


Not The Same as Them

by CrimsonNi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-07 07:53:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 48,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3167252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonNi/pseuds/CrimsonNi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years after the war, peace literally exists! But despite Naruto having everything he wants, Sasuke notices that something is off with him and he his willing to push the limits to figure out what. SasuNaruSasu some hints of other couples and a little bit of OOCness</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> So I thought of a new story literally the day I came back to work after vacation and I couldn't help but feel so many emotions when thinking of the scenes. Granted, the color and details are so much more vivid and I know for a fact I'm not talented enough to accurately describe everything, but I don't want these thoughts haunting my mind long enough until they dust and disappear. So I thought it best to do my best and see where it goes.
> 
> Unlike my other story where I give you the music hits of my playlists, for this story, I'll give you the latest anime (or other—you never know) pics that are swimming the interwebs! For this first chapter, I decided to introduce the image we probably are VERY familiar with by now: (bit -.– ly - / - 1ux44ti). It saddens me that this series is almost ending ='[ but it will forever and always remain as a classic that taught me the best ethical lessons.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Prologue:**

It has always been fairly easy to think a mistake can only be made once, after the first time is learned from. Suppose a mistake occurs so frequently that it's no longer viewed as a mistake, but a habit?

Suppose that habit becomes such a characteristic that it becomes a problem?

And suppose that problem persists until it becomes a disease?

Then suppose that disease weakens you so much that it becomes terminal?

Suppose love isn't any different…


	2. Journey to Peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> So I know the prologue seemed very short and vague but sometimes that kind of suspense and vagueness is needed xD. But here is chapter one, kind of like an exposition of sorts, I hope you enjoy it. I am still debating, however if I should keep it third person POV or switch it to Sasuke's POV…hmm.
> 
> Here's a pic to enjoy of our lovely Naru-chan =3 : deviantart/com/ art/ Uzumaki – Naruto- 370566338
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter One:**

War is an ugly thing. No matter what side 'wins', everyone loses in the end. Whether in lives, in finance, in property loss, in emotion; it's never a wanted outcome. The Fourth Shinobi War was no different in that regard. The Shinobi Alliance won by a breath and the expression of victory was contagious, but the aftermath was instant. All five nations knew they lost so many good soldiers, and they knew their home lives would never be the same. Despite all best efforts, their confidence was shaken about the future. Yet, there that blonde-haired idiot stood in all his exhausted glory, smiling at everyone like not a single bad thing had happened. Covered in dirt and blood and wounds that possibly even Kurama was too tired to heal, there Naruto stood, continuously providing the image of hope everyone needed. Even when he fell, feeling so unbearably tired from using so much chakra, he turned to look at Sasuke with a face contorted in odd concentration; "We did it," he airily whispered. His eyes were half-lidded, his lips not even moving correctly to form the words, but sure enough, he lulled his head to the side and passed out like any true hero would. Sasuke, despite feeling reluctant to do so—not like he trusted anyone aside from Naruto—he too collapsed and fell asleep.

*TWO YEARS LATER*

The path to peace was not something that could easily be attained. Humans were naturally emotional creatures that learned that anger, in correlation to hatred, was a natural response to certain circumstances. To teach peace, forgiveness, and happiness, it took a lot philosophy that was much easier to teach to the younger generations than the older ones. The stubbornness of the older generations made the process feel longer than reality, but in due time, subtle changes were beginning to be seen. All five nations set the example with peace treaties and alliances that set forth future projects to connect everyone in some way; it went even as far as eradicating all debt and budget limits so that everyone could equally work together.

As for individually, Konoha was really big on the changes. There was the matter of Sasuke Uchiha, whom many could not personally forgive for his criminal acts and behavior, but as expected, Naruto stepped in to defend his best friend. He proposed an idea, thought together by him and Shikamaru to implant a specially made chip to monitor Sasuke's every move in addition to a fuck-ton of therapy (his exact words). Although it took a lot of convincing for the council, Tsunade, and all Kages to agree, they all came to an agreement. Sasuke wasn't very enthusiastic, in fact the idea made him want to punch Naruto in the throat, but taking a deep breath, he realized there was nothing else for him to do but comply. He was still majorly pissed about the Konoha v. Itachi history but like Naruto told him as they recovered in the hospital, Itachi was a smart, grown man who weighed his options and concluded that nothing else was more important than Sasuke's wellbeing. It wasn't that Konoha was in the right, but the past was the past by this point so it was just best to forgive, move on, and respect that Itachi loved him more than anything imaginable, even his clan. The dobe was surprisingly mature as he voiced his opinion, but that nervous chuckle would escape him every once in a while since he didn't want to step on any land mines.

Sasuke never responded to him but Naruto was certain he heard, and Sasuke was sure of this every time he raised his head and caught Naruto smiling at him with the softest expression he could conjure up.

Things progressed from then on with Naruto forming a protection act with Gaara and Bee for the biju, carefully selecting specific people to become jinchūriki to disallow any future attempts at making the biju into weapons of war. Sasuke eventually became a captain in ANBU, still attending his sessions when possible and having his whereabouts reported to the Hokage in monthly intervals, while Sakura was promoted into assistant head at the hospital (Shizune being promoted to Head of the Hospital). Meanwhile, there was an extreme high demand for Naruto to be promoted into the Hokage position but with his young age, lack of knowledge and experience in politics, and his Genin status, there had to be a delay in the promotion for some training. Not that Tsunade minded; she was willing to hold onto the seat until Naruto was ready to become Hokage. So two years passed of office meetings, late nights, building new buildings and bridges, adding additions, and more.

But despite so much positivity going around, it didn't mean Sasuke could just throw his cynicism aside. He still hated the sun early in the morning, he still found the women around the village to be obnoxious, and he still believed he was superior to everyone else around him. He wanted to mentally add Naruto somewhere on that list, but to be honest, that was so different nowadays. Naruto was still Naruto; goofy, energetic, unpredictable, boisterous, but Sasuke had begun to notice that Naruto was…off. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was definitely something minute and solid. Sasuke had begun to notice things when Naruto began eating alone and slowly refused invitations to eat with others. Now, he didn't just do this out of the blue, but instead of the usual 5 times a week, it became 4. Sasuke brushed it off as Hokage training consuming more of his time. Then there was the small little backpack Naruto began walking around with; he never opened it or talked about what was inside to anyone. He never acted suspicious or nervous whenever someone questioned him about the bag, but at the same time, he would never answer the initial question. Then there were the conversations! Now Sasuke isn't much of a conversationalist himself, this was something he knew was a character flaw, but he always relied on Naruto or Sakura to make up for that and do most of the talking. Yet, most days he saw Naruto and shared a meal with him, he was more quiet. Not completely, since his booming laugh would still carry over to a few tables across the room, but he definitely knocked himself down a peg.

The frustrating thing was that this wasn't something Sasuke could talk about with someone; how would he even bring it up? No one else seemed to notice the odd behavior so it was a safe bet that everyone would just look at Sasuke as if he were being paranoid. Maybe he was…no, when an Uchiha had a gut feeling that meant they were on the right track. However, Sasuke didn't have much time to dwell on Naruto when he was continuously sent on missions and rarely saw Naruto to begin with. The person he was seeing more often, though, was Sakura. Since the beginning of time—because it must certainly be written in stone somewhere—Sasuke always disliked Sakura and what she stood for, but he could internally admit that throughout the moments, she was maturing and becoming much more tolerable. She was most impressive when she spoke about anatomy and medicine, which made Sasuke wonder if she had been this confident to begin with, would he have taken more of a liking to her? He would still catch some longing gazes, some lingering touches here and there, but she restrained herself well enough for him to let it slid multiple times. But it was also these times Sasuke noticed Naruto was in his 'quiet' mode, almost as if to give them some privacy. He noticed Naruto no longer asked Sakura out for ramen or dinner…maybe he moved on? There were rumors that he had been talking to Hinata so that made some sense, yet the puzzle piece still didn't seem to fit in his head. In the end, Sasuke could only conclude that Naruto was growing up into some fine shinobi; he couldn't always be the loud fool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't very long either, but as mentioned above, this is more like an exposition chapter to get most of the details out of the way. Tell me if you prefer 3rd POV or 1st POV from Sasuke's perspective? Please review =3 and thanks so much!


	3. MMC?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> Second chapter, whoo hoo! So excited and glad I could get it out. Wrote this while it was pouring rain outside, after work, while I was feeling a little under the weather. If you notice some difference in my writing style, that maybe why..or I'm just over-thinking things again. Anyways, read away and enjoy!
> 
> Here's a pic of Tachi, my new favorite character! Although I did envision him a bit fatter and adorbs, this pretty much summed up how he should look : deviantart/com/art/ sasUKE-cAt- 76072665
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter Two:**

The sound of a plate crashing onto the floor accompanied by some hissing and cursing woke Sasuke from his sleep. The dreadful rays of the sun pierced through his window even though he was sure he closed the curtains last night, which only meant someone else opened them to sabotage his mood for the morning.  _God dammit_ , Sasuke thought. He was sure his house wasn't being robbed at the moment, but there was still an urge to go investigate what that noise was. Without wasting another moment, Sasuke got out of bed and headed towards his kitchen, where he heard a voice angrily snapping presumably at Tachi.

"Stupid fucking cat! It's all your fault! Now it's everywhere!"

"Is there any reason why you're verbally abusing my cat?"

Upon entering the kitchen, Sasuke noted the shattered plate on the ground with eggs, sausage, and something else he couldn't identify. Tachi, his cat was quietly sitting by the sidelines with his tail curled at his feet as he licked one of his paws. Then there was Sakura, dressed in nothing but an over-sized t-shirt—that Sasuke was certain wasn't his because he never wore large-sized clothing and he wasn't that big where it would drape off her body either. Sakura should have blushed at seeing Sasuke's peeved face but it was more because he was shirtless and had bed hair.

"S-Sasuke, you're up! I was just making you breakfast," she said with a nervous laugh.

Sasuke gave very little attention despite being the one in asking the question (which she didn't answer) since he turned towards Tachi and bent to pick him up. Instantly, the cat leapt up into his owner's arms and purred a magnificent purr, ecstatic to receive such a good morning. He squirmed this way and that trying to get Saskue to thread his fingers through every strand of fur, which Sasuke could only happily comply to. Tachi's extra need for attention was his way of apologizing for causing a mess that he no doubt instigated since he hated Sakura. Sasuke, however, was thankful for the unexpected turn of events; in this case, it wasn't Sasuke trying to be his usual asshole self, no, it was just…Sakura had to be the worst cook known to mankind. Tachi was just trying to save his owner from the worst experience that a human body can endure, that was all. Hiding the little shivers of disgust that ghosted over his spine, Sasuke set Tachi down and carefully made his way towards the pantry where the cat food was located. The whole process was a quiet ordeal, a routine very familiar to Sasuke and Tachi, but Sakura felt awkward and…left out.

This wasn't her first time residing at the Uchiha residence; it tended to be inevitable, somehow, how the two ended up working late night shifts or finishing up some extensive missions, many times not even correlated with one another, yet they would bump into each other frequently. It just got to the point that at one night, Saskue blindly followed Sakura to her apartment and face planted onto her couch while she retreated to her bedroom to catch some sleep. Surprisingly, much to Sasuke's delight, it wasn't awkward the next morning; Sakura simply smiled, handed him a cup of coffee, instructed him how to lock up, and hurried off to the hospital. The arrangement and whole "no strings attached" vibe made Sasuke extremely content, but if he could find something to complain about, it would be the old women of the neighborhoods staring at them as if they've committed a horrific sin. He'd given them ugly stares right back but that only seemed to intensify their stink eyes…Sakura merely shrugged it off as old values making them prejudice but that never mollified Saskue enough to not hate the stares even less.

"Sasuke?" Sakura tried again, trying to get his attention.

"I'll eat out. I have to buy Tachi some cat food anyways."

With a huff, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. "You're always eating out now. I'm beginning to think you don't like my cooking, Sasuke."

It took way too much effort not to roll his eyes or scoff at the understatement. Again, he really wasn't trying to be an asshole, but he  _loathed_  Sakura and cooking in the same sentence. "I have to head out early."

"But it's your day off!"

"I'm going to spar with Naruto," Sasuke said with a gruff. He was beginning to grow irritated with the questions.

"Sasuke…don't you remember what Naruto said? He's off to Suna for a few days."

At this, Sasuke nearly lost all ounces of patience within himself. Everyone had been so busy for the past few weeks that they had to resort to scheduling to see each other. Naruto had been the moron to schedule this day and time  _specifically_  because he was free. Now that motherfucker is gone, on a mission, to  _Suna_ , for the next few days?! Sakura had given Sasuke a questioning look that he brushed off as he stormed away to shower and change. He hastily turned on the shower and set it at a boiling level, just as he preferred, and basked in the steaming water for a few minutes. His normally pale skin immediately turned a dangerous red, shades of it cascading down his spine and torso, all the way down to the tips of his toes. Those minutes gave Sasuke time to sift through his memories of when Naruto could have possibly mentioned he was leaving. He hadn't seen him yesterday or the day before, so it had to have been late Sunday evening. He remembered Naruto inhaling the food set on the table with the rest of the gang and Kiba making of fun of him when he nearly choked on a piece of steak. Did they even speak to each other that night? Blurry images raced through Sasuke's mind, suddenly reminding him that he had gotten fairly drunk that night so if he did speak to Naruto, he clearly wasn't coherent. Then again, did Naruto know this and tell him regardless? Naruto wouldn't be that stupid…would he?

For Sasuke it would have been entirely too easy to say that yes, Naruto would be stupid enough to tell a drunk friend that he was cancelling their sparring match, but that didn't seem to be the case. This felt…too coincidental for Sasuke's tastes. Putting aside the fact that they barely talk or see each other, they haven't sparred together in a long while and that was beginning to be a problem. Sparring for the two of them was like some religious tradition for someone else; it was a moment of peace and clarity as well as a moment of raw energy littered with adrenaline. It was a moment of blood pumping so loudly that it nearly impaired their ears for good. The sweat would slick their skin and ring about a strong musk that buried so deep within their nostrils that it threatened to stay there until they were done and bathed. Their muscles would spasm and ache with enough force to feel paralyzed while their lungs worked into overdrive to keep them breathing. But it was a desired sort of pain that forced both parties to push and push until they collapsed. Sasuke could see the idiot's face too, trembling in exhaustion, caked in dirt, but happy as a three year old with a balloon. That tired but husky voice calling him a  _Teme_ , those blue eyes spiraling and twinkling in endless excitement, that tan skin falling into a relaxed state until it turned into an earthy brown…

Sasuke felt a chill run up his spine and realized he had run the shower cold. Just how long was he standing there thinking about Naruto?! After shutting off the shower and toweling himself off, Sasuke headed out to dress but found the house to be silent. Putting on a simple t-shirt and sweat pants, true enough, Sakura left a note on the kitchen table, which he noticed was all clean from the mess earlier.

_Sasuke,_

_I cleaned the kitchen and headed off to work. Make sure you eat something and please do something other than play with your cat…_

_Love,_

_Sakura_

A scowl found its way on Sasuke's face as he read the note a second time; she wasn't his mother for crying out loud. At the mention of Tachi, Sasuke looked around and found the fat and blue bundle of joy curled up in his tree—only Tachi could see Sasuke's rare smile.

The day off was spent uneventful—due to a certain  _someone's_  disappearance—so Sasuke just ran some errands, played with Tachi, and went to bed. He resumed his ANBU duties, helping with this, managing with that, but two days going by without any kind of 'anything' going on made everything seem dull and boring. Sasuke was used to dull and he tended to enjoy it when he could, but it was not something he wanted stretched on too long. Not that he'd ever say it out loud, but he maybe sort of missed how Naruto used to force people to have fun. No matter how moody Sasuke was in the past, Naruto always found a loop hole, dragged him into some crazy scheme that no doubt would humiliate the lot of them, and made him enjoy it. For as stupid as his ideas were, one couldn't help but just listen to him and follow his lead. Now they were young adults, on their way to leading genin teams of their own (and Naruto leading a country), becoming consumed in the path to peace, and growing…old. The unnerving thought only made Sasuke speed up his pace on the way home.

Tachi was waiting by the front door when Sasuke entered, immediately meowing for food and attention. Pale fingers threaded through the blue fur before heading to the kitchen. The house was eerily quiet, except for the clinks and clangs from Sasuke moving about. Tachi happily meowed upon receiving his meal, but hissed angrily when the front door was thrown opened and slammed. Sensing the chakra, Sasuke could tell it was Sakura that had entered, which only made him frown in anger at her rudeness. Just as he was about to ream her for her over step in boundaries, Sakura came rushing into the kitchen with some kind of unreadable expression—something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked immediately.

"I'm not sure," she started, a start that at first confused Sasuke, but she spoke quick enough to remedy that. "but I think something's wrong with Naruto."

A horrendous feeling skittered on the edges of Sasuke's stomach, ready to dive in to fill him with dread. "What? Why? Something happen in Suna?"

"No, no…nothing like that. Just…," she sighed heavily and seated herself across from Sasuke at the table, preparing herself to tell the story. "Tsunade-sama…had been acting strange lately. Usually, I'm used to her odd trends, but I don't know, it seemed as if she were really pissed about something. I've asked her but she doesn't answer me or says that it's nothing. But today…today I brought in a report and file given to me by the guards at the gate and handed them to her. She opened them and she all of a sudden seemed secretive and quiet—she even hid the file so I couldn't see what it was!" Sakura's face had turned slightly pale. "I know it was wrong, Sasuke, but I had to know. She left her office early because she was tired…I-I snuck into her office and found the file—"

"What the hell was in it, Sakura?" Sasuke demanded, impatient with her drama.

"Naruto…it was a medical file about Naruto." With a shaky hand, she fetched for the inside of her jacket and pulled out a brown folder with little colorful tabs sticking out. Sasuke couldn't hide his surprise that Sakura actually stole confidential files, but if it was about Naruto, could he blame her? Could anyone? She opened the file to reveal a little picture of Naruto in the corner and a brief medical history.

Sasuke scanned the pages but the more he read, the more he felt himself frowning in confusion. Nothing was out of the ordinary with the file, nothing pointing to any kind of danger that she was referring to. On the contrary, the file seemed to be missing some information, something even as important as his height and weight. "Sakura, I don't see what's wrong."

"Sasuke, don't you see that it's missing a lot of simple things?"

"Yes?"

"That's MMC!"

"And what the fuck is that?! You're still not telling me anything!"

"It stands for Medical Morse Code! It's purposely missing information because it's an encrypted message. In case the file ever got lost in travel, an amateur wouldn't have a clue of what this really means—"

Sasuke slammed his hand, hard, against the table, scaring both Tachi and Sakura. "Did you decrypt it? What's  _wrong_  with Naruto?"

"He's…He's sick. The basic missing pieces mean that whatever he has isn't small or easily, if at all, treatable.  _Usually_  it means…terminal."


	4. The Pleasures of Being Drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> O-M-Kami! I start grad school tomorrow! It's a little nerve-wracking but totally exciting—I can't wait. If you haven't read my other story or its latest chapter, then I should tell you that I have been over-obsessing over Queer as Folk as of late and am reading so much BriTin material that it's not even funny! I love reading and watching brilliant works of art so thank you Queer as Folk for inspiring new ideas and quenching my humongous yaoi thirst!
> 
> Here's a pic Naruto and Gaara; I thought it best represented the theme of this chapter: deviantart/ com / art / Naruto – and – Gaara –Off – Duty – 52678188.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter Three:**

_Hot_  couldn't even begin to describe the weather of Suna during the summer. There was sweat coming out from places that never needed any usual attention, places that Naruto preferred to ignore. Thankfully, his attention span wasn't something known for lasting a long time so even though his mind did continuously think about how much he was sweating, he easily distracted himself with something else. Still, it was a wonder how Gaara managed to not only keep from melting and sweating, but keep from gaining even the lightest of tans! Every night Naruto changed and faced his reflection in the mirror, all he could think was how absolutely black he looked! Ironically, his bright blonde hair, instead of darkening along with him, brightened a couple shades. Gaara kept shifting the blame to Naruto's stubbornness on not wearing the appropriate wardrobe of Suna, which Naruto called bullshit on since many people who did wear it still turned out darker than Gaara. They've had this argument numerous amount of times to which Gaara secretly had begun to look forward to; Naruto's antics were always amusing.

" _Gaara_ , it's fucking hot, I gotta take an ice bath! Blue balls be damned!"

A small but definite smile settled on Gaara's face at the vulgar reference. If only the council could hear the way Naruto casually spoke sometimes. "Believe it or not, that will only make you hotter. Taking a hot bath will make you cooler."

"Cold equals hotter and heat equals cooler? What the hell kind of science is that?!"

A sigh escaped from him. For a man who could be a brilliant conversationalist at times, he sure could be slow. Gaara had to think of a way to easily explain the simple logic without inviting a longer list of scientific questions; one thing he wasn't was a teacher. "Haven't you ever notice ice cubes melting when they reach room temperature?" Naruto thought for a second and then slowly nodded. "That's because the ice adapted to the heat. Now pretend you're an ice cube; if you were an ice cube and then placed in a hot setting like you are now, what would happen?"

Naruto paused. "I'd melt?"

"Exactly. Now if you were to take a hot bath, making your temperature rise momentarily, what do you think happens once you step out?"

He paused again. "Ohhh, I get it now. Fine then, hot bath it is!"

Gaara chuckled as he stamped another document. "You're more than welcome to go and bathe. Less of course, you need assistance?"

Immediately Naruto's eyes darkened into an oceanic blue, crested with freckles of black. He leaned back into his chair, slowly crossing his arms over his chest and stretching his long legs into their fullest length. "Are you offering, Kazakage-sama?"

"Me personally? No, I was more like offering if you wanted me to call for anyone you had in mind."

"Shame," Naruto tsked mournfully. "I really wanted to suck you off."

A powerful blush decorated Gaara's face, something no one, not even his siblings Temari and Kankuro, have ever seen, except for Naruto. "Your bluntness will never cease to amaze me. And how you could even  _suggest_  such flirtatious behaviors with—"

"A breeder? Because it's absolutely fun! Not to mention, I keep it as an insurance policy…just in case one day you happen to have a wet dream and consider the possibility of actually sleeping with a man, you'll remember you have a hot stud of a friend and come 'talk' to me about it. Then I'd introduce you to the pleasures of my flesh and leave you with an everlasting memory."

"You're exceptionally confident. Normally, I would take such wording as a means of a challenge but I'm afraid I'm going to have to tap out on this one."

"Well you're no fun. I thought the both of us were rivals always questing to up one another yet give each other necessary pushes?"

Gaara quirked an unseen eyebrow. "I think you have me confused with someone else…"

Naruto hadn't responded to the comment but instead turned his gaze away from Gaara to the window where he stared at the beautiful view of Suna. Yeah, he was hot, but there was no way he could deny that Suna was fucking beautiful, especially with the sun blazing from the west side of town, casting shadows on the people and houses and shops littered about. There was a small feeling of sadness that pinched at Naruto's mind when he kept remembering that he had to leave tomorrow morning and wait till next time to see the view again. He loved Konoha, truly he did, but  _fuck_  did he love traveling! He absolutely loved visiting a new town, eating exotic dishes, meeting new people, and waking up unknowing of what he was going to encounter next. The obnoxious part of the whole thing was that every time he went out and visited a new place, he would naively believe that he satiated this hunger and could finally go back home. But then some horrible itch would start burning under his skin, thrumming like Shino's bugs in a battle, withdrawing any sanity from his well being.

While in his musings, Naruto failed to notice Gaara's irritated huffs trying to call his attention. "I'm sorry, what?"

Although Gaara's face was blank, Naruto knew well enough Gaara was internally twitching. "You heard not a single word…I asked at what time would you be embarking tomorrow?"

"I was thinking early so there's no fuss, but if you have other ideas…?"

Gaara stamped the last document and then presented Naruto a sly, mischievous smirk. Slowly, he reached for one of his side drawers and rummaged through it until he pulled out an elegant black bottle wrapped in golden-like vines. The brand, Naruto didn't know, nor did he give two cares because just from appearance alone, Naruto knew that shit was worth a  _fortune_. With a little more rummaging, Gaara pulled two shiny glasses, popped the bottle open without so much as a word and filled the glasses mid-way. The liquid was a shimmering grey speckled with something that Naruto couldn't identify and before he knew it, Gaara pushed one of the glasses towards him. "I was thinking of having a small celebration with some exquisite sake. Care to join me?"

A breathless laugh escaped Naruto. "I knew it, all you Kages are some level of alcoholics."

Gaara scoffed. "Obviously not, I merely wanted to share one of my finest with you."

"We were supposed to share this kind of drink when I became Hokage?" Naruto asked solemnly.

Taking a danergously large swig from his glass—surprising Naruto in the process—Gaara chuckled. "No, we were supposed to share this when you came over to visit, not to discuss any kind of business, but as a friend to share the same type of desire as I do—to forget work and get drunk."

Naruto laughed heartily, enjoying the slight lift that had weighed him down lately. He raised his glass to toast and Gaara all but gladly grabbed his own to share a loud and healthy clink.

~*NUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNU*~

Unlike ordinary pedestrians, Naruto and Gaara held special abilities; higher stamina, slightly higher temperatures, amazing immune systems to keep them from getting common sicknesses, a bit more strength, fast healing abilities, and so much more. One would think, with such amazing characteristics (due to their jinchuuriki status), they would appreciate the fact that they could not easily be harmed or poisoned. True as that may be, neither Naruto nor Gaara could quite argue for that after last night. Getting drunk and feeling the sufferings the next morning was not one the pleasures neither man could ever easily accomplish, not even after begging their beast buddies to take a break and  _not_  heal them. Shukaku was all for it and although Kurama was a little reluctant, he was willing to agree, except they had to explain that due to them being sealed inside of their human companions since birth (or in Gaara's case, even before so), the healing abilities and immunity were practically second nature.

Gaara accepted defeat and internalized his sulking, but Naruto took this as nothing more than a challenge. He concluded that he  _could_  get drunk, he just had to put in the effort, like anything else in life, if he wanted something, he had to bust ass to get it. He only grew more confident when he revealed his realizations to Gaara and had him join in on the challenge. So the two didn't sleep during the night; they spent the entire evening drinking drink after drink, playing stupid games, and sharing stories as if they were old war buddies trying to catch up. Sure enough, the lack of rest and exaggerated consumption of alcohol had the two staggering, slurring their words, and laughing at absolutely anything. Temari, who was assigned to escort Naruto back home, walked in on a half naked Naruto and a flushed and plastered Gaara splayed out on the floor.

"W-What the hell is going on?!" Her enraged expression had both men facing her, taking one long minute to understand that she was surprised and angry, then laughing hysterically. She ended up calling for Kankuro for help, who was stunned to see his brother in such a state, but at the same time not surprised that Naruto was somehow involved.

The two went to work; Kankuro nabbed Gaara to go and clean him up before any one from the council saw him and threw a shit fit while Temari helped Naruto clean up and dress. Despite his giddiness in his drunken state of mind, Naruto knew well enough he was saying good bye and he really didn't want to. Gaara must have felt the same because his reddened face faded a couple notches and a sullen expression took a hold of him. They shared a tight hug, unlike their awkward hand shake a while back after Naruto helped save him, and shocking everyone nearby, even a small peck on the mouth. Naruto wanted to laugh at their faces but he was mature enough to rein it in and whisper one last goodbye before the gates shut and he was on his way back home.

Not getting any change to sleep and being forced to walk his ass back home in the sweltering heat only presented Naruto pain and discomfort. He constantly felt thirsty, his vision was blurred, a nauseating feeling kept nipping at him, he wanted to puke…just what the fuck possessed him to  _want_  to be drunk again? That thought spurred a smug reaction from Kurama who admitted to feeling no pity for his human because  _'you asked for it_ '. If Naruto could, he'd punch one of Kurama's fangs out so the other biju could point and laugh at him for being a one-fanged fox. Ha! The thought had him giggling, but a little too loudly since Temari started giving him weird looks.

" _I can heal, you dumbass…_ "

" _I'll find a way to save the mental picture and share it with the others. You'd be a laughing stock._ "

 _"Not as much as you're going to be after I disembowel you._ "

That had Naruto shutting up until they finally,  _finally_  reached home. Temari went off to report to Tsunade but Naruto needed some damn nourishment, a shower, and his beautiful bed waiting at home. It was early evening by the time they arrived so he had time to rest tonight and be good as new for tomorrow. He immediately raced over to Ichiraku and seated himself in his usual seat to place his order.

"Naruto! Haven't seen you for a few days. What can I get ya?" If the old man noticed Naruto's sickly appearance, he kept it to himself.

"Can I get my usual? But less ingredients and more broth, please? I feel like shit," he groaned.

The old man nodded and went to work. Naruto wanted to put his head down and mentally ask his stomach to hold on when the sound of a chair being abruptly pulled back caught his attention. He looked up to see Sakura and Sasuke, both with pale faces and shocked expressions.

"You're here," Sakura whispered.

"…Uh, yes?" Naruto noticed their odd behavior and was beginning to grow wary. "What's wrong?"

"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Sasuke questioned right back. "You look like shit."

"Yeah, well, fuck you too. And nothing's wrong…just the last time I decide to listen to Gaara when he wants to experiment." Although, it was Naruto's idea to stay up and get drunk, but they didn't need to know that. Naruto failed to notice the panicked look that crossed their faces.

"Are you alright?!" Sakura nearly shouted.

Naruto flinched, his ears feeling more sensitive than usual. "Yeah, are you? Is something up?"

Sakura wanted to mention how NEVER in his existence had Naruto ever ordered Ramen with broth being the higher ratio or how his eyes looked puffy and red, how his hair was so disheveled, or how his skin lacked its usual glow. When she opened her mouth to say so, Sasuke grabbed her wrist and subtly shook his head; this wasn't any way to get Naruto to talk. Naruto saw Sasuke grab a hold of Sakura's hand and instantly turned away towards the counter, wishing his food would get there quicker. As if the old man read his distress, he appeared with a large bowl filled with the usual beef and pork and fishcakes and noodles, but also the requested extra broth to sooth Naruto's aching body.

Before Naruto could dig right in, Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder, calling his attention back to them. "Naruto, if there's something ever wrong, you know you can come to us, right?"

Absolutely baffled by their antics, Naruto, in an uncharacteristic manner, slammed his chopsticks down and glared at the two of them. "I don't know what's going on, but whatever it is, tell me now and get it over with. Otherwise, can I eat? Because I haven't slept, I need a shower, and I feel like shit, so unless I have to solve some world crisis, I'd really like to be left alone!"

Unused to Naruto targeting his anger or frustrations on them, the two were left with an uncertainty of how to move forward from this. Sasuke used enough common sense to at least leave Naruto alone for now and work on a different approach while Sakura thought from the medical perspective and though that perhaps this was a side effect; the medicine or 'experiments' caused mood swings. Looking back at Naruto as he slowly nibbled away at his food, whatever they decided to do, they needed to decide fast.


	5. Miro Miro Mirror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> Woah, it's been a while! Grad school is crazy fun and time consuming but I also love squeezing in time to write these stories xD. Anyways, here's an update, FINALLY, and I hope you enjoy it. If you're not a huge fan of smut, then…don't read this chapter, por favor. Yes, this is a smutty chapter because I love smut (gay smut particularly) and after finishing this chapter, I've realized I seriously don't know how to write a normal sex scene O_o. I seem to find an odd way of twisting it up but I'm unsure if you guys like this kind of stuff or not, so please let me know! Also, there's some notes at the end of the chapter so please read that was well. Please read, review, and ENJOY!
> 
> Today's picture is based off of Kurama because I LOVE Kurama and he's kind of the main chief of this chapter, hope you don't mind =]: www / deviantart / com / art / Naruto – Hokage – and – Kurama – 343017069.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter Four:**

As soon as he was done feasting on three bowls of ramen—or more like ramen broth—Naruto went straight home to shower and sleep. He somehow found the strength to stand under the blazing heat of the spray and dress himself after, but that strength immediately evaporated when he crawled over on his back. His eyes closed and all he could remember after that was thinking how strange Sasuke and Sakura were acting when he saw them. He couldn't ask himself too many questions after that since he dozed off and surprisingly didn't wake up until ten hours later.

" _—ke up. Idiot, get up!"_

Naruto shot up from his bed feeling disorientated but his mind registered that danger had to be lurking close by. He aggressively wiped at the drool dribbling at his chin and hastily looked around for trouble. "What's going on?!"

_"NOTHING, you idiot! You've overslept and missed your morning training."_

Looking at the little alarm clock perched on his night table, Naruto mentally confirmed that he had indeed missed morning training.  _Shit_ , he thought. Naruto hated missing any time for training but he did realize that that only made sense considering how crappy he was feeling last night.

 _"That makes it your fault for trying to be_ normal _in the first place!_ "

"Hey, do you mind not looking into my thoughts! And we we're pretty normal, you know, we were just trying to experience youth."

 _"What the fuck?_ " Kurama stated dryly.  _"Perhaps I should ban you from associating yourself with the bowl-cut duo because that is the most retarded form of justification I have ever heard."_

"You wouldn't understand; you're not human."

_"I should be so blessed…now get up and go shower. For all the time you've wasted so far, I'll use to torture you."_

Naruto grimaced thinking about the torture that Kurama had in mind. Sometimes it was downright scary the things he came up with just to 'train' Naruto. Not wanting to add on anymore wasted time, Naruto sprung off his bed and raced towards his shower to start off his day. In record time, he was showered, dressed, and already halfway towards the training grounds feeling the usual tingling sensation bubble under his skin; he'd get that feeling whenever he was about to work out or overexert himself to his limit; for Naruto, it was an addiction, an adrenaline high that he always prayed to never come down from. And thankfully, that high lasted for several hours even with Kurama mentally shouting demands for some ridiculous physical actions. After about 5 hours of 'death-training', as Naruto dubbed it, he was finally allowed a break.

 _"No ramen,"_  Kurama mumbled.

"What?! Why the hell not?!"

_"Fine, go and eat some ramen. Maybe it'll give you just enough energy to last for another 6 hours…your choice."_

"S-S-Six…hours? What the fuck, are you trying to kill me?! That's cruel! What, just because you're an animal with opposable thumbs, you think you can abuse me like this?!"

Kurama wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh in sadistic glee or cry in dismay at his human's pure stupidity. There existed no intelligent reply to that sort of comment, so he wisely chose not to do so.  _"Look, I pushed you hard today. Ramen isn't too healthy of a choice after extensive training like that. Eat something healthier and then eat some ramen later, better?"_

Naruto pouted but he supposed that that logic made enough sense. He nodded and headed off to the closest market to purchase something to snack on…something healthy. Against his better judgment, Naruto cracked a wide grin thinking how fatherly Kurama had become when it came to him. Even though Iruka had similar fatherly tendencies, Kurama did in a different manner. Maybe because they shared the same body (and mind) or maybe it's because they felt such horrid hatred towards each other years ago that it developed into a more open-minded friendship? Naruto wasn't sure, but what he did know was that he secretly enjoyed it and prayed to whatever deity out there that it wouldn't end anytime soon. So true to his word, Naruto feasted on some—shudder—vegetables and fruits with the thought that he was going to order an extra large Ramen for dinner. Surprisingly, at least for Naruto, he felt an immense second wind course through him after lunch and he was able to withstand Kurama's training much longer than he anticipated. Of course, Kurama knew it was due to the food choice but it was extremely unlikely that Naruto would ever admit such a thing.

The training lasted for another 4 hours (Kurama was feeling generous), leaving Naruto plenty of time to hurry home, shower, and eat that extra large bowl that he'd been waiting for. On his way home, the two mentally chatted about the training session, any changes that needed to be done, any possible new jutsus that could be tried—a familiar face called out to Naruto, ripping him from his conversation and returning him to reality.

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Woah, is that Miro? I haven't seen you in a while!"

Miro was a lean-bodied boy (or young adult—his words) just shy of 17 and a brunet with wavy hair that frequently tripped over his hazel-colored eyes. He was a few years younger than Naruto, but not by much, yet his smooth skin and short stature almost proved contrary. As he approached Naruto, he couldn't quell the pink heat that stained his cheeks; Naruto standing before him all sweaty and tired and blonde and blue-eyed painted a seductive image that could easily entice anyone.

"Hey," he said again, adding on a large grin.

"Hey yourself, how've you been?"

"I've been good, same old same old. What about you? We haven't gotten a visit from you in a while."

It was Naruto's turn to blush as he lightly scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Ah, I'm sorry. Baa-chan has been dragging my ass all over the place with missions and recently I was in Suna, so things have been a little hectic."

Miro hummed in understanding and smiled in relief, glad that Naruto hadn't been around due to being busy instead of being…bored. "So, would it be okay then…if you stopped by?"

"Well…" Naruto hesitated. Miro's beaming smile instantly faltered.

"I mean, no it's alright, I'm sure you're tired and all. Ha-ha, next time though—"

Naruto snatched his thin wrist before he could run off; he wasn't oblivious to Miro's blushing face or stammering speech. "Sorry, I meant to say that stopping by right now would be a little too inconvenient…but maybe you could stop by my place instead?"

Damn Naruto for easily being able to both stop the human heart and resuscitate it. Miro couldn't even dream to control his abusive heart; it thrashed against his rib cage hard enough to bruise it, so it'll be damned if Miro  _didn't_  accept Naruto's invitation. "Yeah, sure!"

Thus, the two silently headed towards Naruto apartment. A small part of Naruto was disappointed at the fact that he couldn't eat some ramen for dinner but he thankfully wasn't too hungry so he supposed he could last for one night. At the thought of how his one night was going to be spent anyways, in all honesty, it wasn't too bad of a trade. However, a deep chuckle wasn't any kind of reaction he'd thought he'd get.

" _What're you laughing at?"_  Naruto internally asked.

" _Just at your short attention span. Although, I have to say that I do approve of this choice…_. _The pheromones alone that he is giving out is evidence enough of just how willing he'll be."_

A primal growl wanted to rumble out of Naruto but he bit the inside of his cheek in resistance. He too could smell the hormones seeping out of Miro's pores and it nearly drove him numb with lust. And no, Naruto didn't feel this was an awkward conversation to hold with a sentient being in his head, at least, not always. Ironically enough, despite living together since the very day of his birth, Naruto and Kurama shared nothing together; no opinions, no emotions/feelings, nothing. And it wasn't as if Kurama didn't see Naruto's experiences growing up or Naruto didn't learn how Kurama became the cruel demon that he was labeled as; they knew about each other, but never  _knew_  of each other. It took a great war, a lot of memories, and long conversations before the two could grow comfortable with one another and since they were of one body, it was inevitable that Kurama would be 'involved' in Naruto's maturation.

In some cases, Kurama was just a shadow that was there, but very easily ignored, and other times, it was the complete opposite. For one thing, Kurama had learned of Naruto's preferences and knew he wasn't into relationships for the 'mating' aspect like a lot of his peers; he was into males and he was into fucking for the pleasure of it—a raw characteristic of an alpha that he most likely picked up from living with Kurama for so long. So even if they wanted to, neither of them could split their mentality and eradicate the existence of the other; it was just best to accept and use the predicament as an advantage.

When they arrived at the apartment, the last thing Miro was expecting was to be pushed harshly against the door. With no lights to see Naruto's expression, all Miro could do was gasp as he felt his sweltering hands reach for the skin of his waist.

"W-Wait…Naruto," Miro begged. His voice was light and mumbled due to his lips being smashed against Naruto's.

"What's wrong?"

"Just don't tear the clothing, I don't want to walk home naked."

The imagery alone was enough to elicit a feral growl from Naruto; he imagined Miro nervously hiding in the shadows, trying to not get caught, allowing his naked form to be openly exposed for anyone to catch him at any moment. Even Kurama could be heard purring in approval. Almost as if he hadn't heard what Miro had said, Naruto clutched at the fabric and relished in the tearing sounds of his clothes. The sounds of Miro's gasps aroused both Naruto and Kurama, slowly bringing forth pointed fangs and claws. Naruto wanted to satiate the throbbing tickle that balled itself at the base of his erecting cock, the desire causing him to harshly rut against Miro. The door rattled, their groans echoed, their sweat mingled; it was nearly too much for Miro.

This dominant persona wasn't something new for Miro, but that didn't mean he could ever get used to it. He, along with a very small few that has 'served' for Naruto before, knew that whenever they engaged in sex, it wasn't just with Naruto, but with his demon as well. That suited just fine for Miro, not to mean that he wasn't scared of Kurama, just that he trusted Naruto enough to not let things get out of control.

"Miro," Naruto snarled. He disliked that Miro was focusing on something else rather than the current situation. He then held three long fingers in front of Miro's mouth, non-verbally demanding him to suck.

Miro lacked hesitation in opening his mouth and tasting the calloused fingers. They tasted of salt and some distinct flavoring that spurred Miro to moan in desire. He minutely bobbed his head, showing Naruto the type of filthy thoughts that were running through his mind. In return, Naruto hummed, appreciative of the view of Miro's flushed face and sweaty body. In wanting to set things in motion, Naruto quickly released his fingers from Miro's mouth and shot them straight down towards Miro's entrance. Using just the very tip of his middle finger, Naruto teased the entrance, circling his finger around the hole until it quivered in anticipation.

"Naruto…please," Miro begged.

It was enticing. To hold so much power over a person with, literally, just the tip of his finger made Naruto excited. He figured he had enough play time and gently pushed the digit in until the tips of his knuckles touched flesh. For just a couple seconds, the two stood very still, allowing the pleasure to settle at a comfortable level before resuming. When it did, Naruto slowly thrusted his finger, giving it just enough time for the second finger to join. Miro keened in pleasure, throwing his head back against the door, riding Naruto's fingers in wanton joy. The third finger quickly joined and by then, Naruto was animatedly thrusting, forcing Miro to moan and gasp from the onslaught of gratification. The door shook even harder as the two bodies collided with one another, evoking more sweat and musk that drove Kurama and Naruto to salivate in desire. It was then that Naruto crooked his fingers at a slight angle that nearly jolted Miro off the door and through the roof. He hit the magic spot.

"Dear… _fuck_!  _FUCK_!" He shouted. Miro had his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his neck open for Naruto to latch onto and suck. Fangs and tongue caressed the skin, sucking in all of the sweat as if it were cooling water. Such greed from the passionate beast could only make Miro whimper and moan.

Naruto felt Miro tighten around his fingers and with his fangs still attached to Miro's neck, he growled. "Come for me. Come for me like a  _whore_." Naruto thrusted harder, completely neglecting the weeping cock, knowing that this was more than enough to push Miro over.

And in fact, it was; Miro came after a couple more hits to his prostate with a long, strangled moan of Naruto's name. Cum had sluiced Miro's stomach while also saturating Naruto's shirt but it was to come off anyway, so it wasn't like he cared. The two had lazy, satisfied smiles on their faces but there was still some tension that demanded some attention. Without so much as a word or warning, Naruto threw Miro over his shoulder and walked towards the bedroom.

He gently placed Miro on the bed as he removed his shirt and threw it across the room, leaving his chest wide open for view. The sacred seal was also on display, faintly glowing as the light from the window shone on it. Miro stared at the black ink, still fascinated even after all this time, by the swivels and curls. The characters spiraled alongside the swirl in the middle, subtly leading down under Naruto's pants. Miro had an urge to trace his tongue on the tattoo but Naruto was standing a little too far to do so. When he did step forward, he placed his hands on his hips and gave a small smirk.

"Take them off," he demanded.

Miro was only too glad to obey and fastened his mouth around Naruto's belly button as his hands made quick work of his pants. Thankfully, because Naruto was training earlier, his pants were a simple string-tied pair of sweats that took one tough tug to untie. Like liquid silk, the pants pooled around Naruto's ankles, as well as his underwear since Miro hastily yanked them down too. A strong and firm cock stared at Miro with a small pebble of pre-cum dibbled at the very tip. Light blonde hair, soft to the touch, was framed around the base, highlighting the ombre-shading of red and brown of Naruto's cock. Miro panted, his mouth watered and he wanted nothing more than to suckle on said cock but Naruto had shook his head. The rejection caused some confusion within Miro; didn't Naruto want his dick sucked? As if he had read his mind, Naruto smiled and shook his head again.

"I just want to try something different."

Before Miro could ask, he witnessed Naruto's blue irises darken before they brightened to a terrifying shade of red. The whisker-marks on his cheeks thickened as his two front fangs elongated until they were naturally perched on top of his bottom lip. Despite this also not being the first time it's happened—although this phase wasn't too frequent either—Miro was surprised at how fast this was going. Was this because he caught Naruto right after training? Naruto did say he had been really busy lately so maybe he's been pent-up and frustrated? Whatever the case was, it had been a while since the two of them have been this hasty and rough, so he was going to make the most of it. Although, Miro also knew that the person before him wasn't just Naruto, it was Kurama at the forefront, which meant he had to satisfy both of their hungers.

Miro watched as Naruto sat on the bed next to him and scooted all the way back until his back was firmly planted against the wall. He softly patted his thigh, gesturing for Miro to crawl over and sit on his lap, slowly stroking his cock with his other hand. The whole time as he moved closer to Naruto, Miro couldn't keep his eyes away from that heated rod that called to him; he seriously wanted to suck on it! He settled for placing his knees on either side of Naruto's legs and awaited to see what would happen next. However, when Naruto tried to push him back, Miro resisted and gave Naruto a vexing glance as to what was going on.

"Naruto, what—"

"Trust me. Plant your feet on the wall and raise your back. I want your ass in my face **.** "

The position was a bit embarrassing but he was horny and Naruto wasn't one to fail when it came to pleasuring so Miro didn't really see the need in any more arguing. He did as he was told and laid on his back, planting his feet over Naruto's shoulders and against the wall, giving Naruto easy access to pull the bottom half of his body up until his face was mouth level with Miro's crotch. Naruto pulled his legs wider, as if displaying Miro's body for any and all to see, and curled his arms around so he could easily grab the two globes of flesh apart. Naruto's breath blew across Miro's entrance and he watched as the hole winked at him; both he and Kurama smiled at the captivation of it. Naruto gave a few long licks from bottom to top, enjoying the sound of Miro's gasps, but he wanted more than that. Naruto wanted Miro to scream.

He blew at the entrance, feeling Miro squirm and moan under his touch, yet that still wasn't enough. Kurama was growling in the background, tired of the back-and-forth fiddling as he watched Naruto take his damn time. He wanted to switch and remain switched until he was satiated and luckily, Naruto wasn't against the idea. Naruto now gave him full reigns to do whatever he wanted with this body. The first thing he wanted to do was properly eat the 'offering' that was presented before him. Kurama spat directly at the hole, watching as his saliva clung to the crevices of Miro's smooth skin. He spat again and lapped at the hole as if he never eaten anything in his  _entire_  life. His fangs skimmed over the edges, threatening to cut the skin at any given moment, but that only made Miro moan even louder. Kurama's tongue stabbed at the entrance in rough tandems, giving no time for Miro to recover from the mounting pleasure. When he went to reach for his leaking cock, Kurama completely stopped, which made Miro whine in complete shock.

"W-Why did you stop?" he whispered, barely able to speak.

" **I didn't say you could touch yourself. You are to submit yourself to me, completely, until I am done with you. Is this understood?** "

The voice of Kurama was absolute. Miro whimpered and vigorously nodded, not caring how desperate he seemed. Kurama chuckled and rewarded Miro's obedience with his sharp tongue. That, of course, called forth a string of 'Oh Gods' and 'Fucks' to ensue. Admittedly, Kurama relished in taboo play such as this, but he still wanted more—he was greedy in that regard. He looked down to see Miro's eyes closed shut tight and his chest desperately trying to capture air into his lungs; he wondered how could he up the ante? A small thought popped into his head and he smiled in glee.  _Yes, that'll be perfect_  and Naruto was in agreement.

" **Miro, look at me.** " Miro slowly opened his eyes to stare right into Kurama's red orbs. " **Good, now don't look away or close your eyes.** "

As Miro looked at him, Kurama used his fangs to nip at one of Miro's cheeks until the skin broke and blood slid down into his crack. The pain made Miro flinch but Kurama's steel-like grip made the movement infinitesimal. Kurama bit at the other cheek, watching as the blood repeated the pattern and streamed down onto his crack. Using his finger, Kurama blended the blood at the entrance, even going as far as plunging his finger into the hole, using the blood as the lube. Miraculously, Miro hadn't closed his eyes, but the finger pounding into his prostate and the slight feeling of pain from the bites was nearly pushing him to the point of no return. Various, incoherent sentences leaked from his mouth, loud moans following after, and his body was trembling in sheer want.  _Damn_ , he had missed this ecstasy! Kurama wanted to taste the freshly coated hole and replaced his finger with his tongue, coating half of his face in blood and saliva. It was indescribable how delicious the new taste was; it made him want to laugh in sadistic fun, but he settled for humming in delight.

" _Fuck!_  Kurama,  _please_! Fuck me, please!"

" _Why don't you give him a break, Kurama? We haven't come yet, either,_ " Naruto said in the background. Kurama did suppose the kid had a point. He realized his dick was extremely hard and hadn't had a chance for release since the start of this.

" **Get on all fours,** " he demanded of Miro. Miro scrambled to reposition himself without hitting Naruto/Kurama.

As he got on his hands and knees, Kurama rummaged through the night table drawer to locate a condom (something he personally didn't care for but he was respectful enough of Naruto's wishes) and rolled it on. He turned to see Miro with his head on his hands and his ass in the air, stains of blood still there; the sight was a major turn on for Kurama. Kurama could also see the bite marks he left and took it upon himself to kneel down and lick the cuts until they closed. Miro groaned at the pain relief, appreciative, but still waiting in desperation to be fucked. Giving one last look at the puckering hole, Kurama spat at it and gave a good smack on his ass cheek before positioning himself for a hard thrust. Whether the hole was properly stretched or not, at this point, Kurama wasn't concerned. He pushed himself right in, reveling in Miro's shout at the intrusion. There was no slow or easy about the process; it was hard, heavy, musky, but fucking hot, exactly as both parties wanted it.

"Move, please."

Kurama didn't argue and pulled himself back so he could powerfully thrust forward. That long awaited scream finally came forth as Kurama pounded into Miro. Their sounds of lustful moans and smacking skin filled the room. There existed nothing but heat and sweat. Kurama thrusted hard, panted and drooled on Miro's skin like an animal. He clutched onto one of Miro's hips and gripped hard enough to break the skin while the other hand snaked its way into Miro's hair and harshly pulled him up to reveal the skin of his neck. Kurama was flexible enough to bend down and bite his neck and shoulder until more blood surfaced. Miro screamed but he liked the pain; it blended all too well with the pleasure. Yet, through all the pain and lust, Miro's eyes widened when he caught a glimpse of a full length mirror at the end of the bed on the far end wall. He couldn't see perfectly but he could easily make out both of their bodies writhing together and Kurama's red eyes narrowed and concentrated. It was such an arousing sight that he clenched tighter around Kurama and moaned.

Kurama immediately noticed the change and looked to see what might have caused it. It wasn't hard to see that Miro was looking straight at the mirror and that just made him grin. He moved his lips from Miro's neck to his ear and lewdly whispered into it.

" **You like that, don't you? Being fucked in the ass, moaning like a fucking whore. You like when I rip you apart, don't you? While my dick is inside you, you fucking love it.** "

" _God,_  yes!" he gasped.

" **Say it. Say how much you love it.** "

"I love it! I love it when you fuck me and bite me!  _FuckmeFuckmeFuckmeFuckeme!_ "

" **Good boy, Miro. Good fucking boy. Now look into the mirror while I make you come. Listen to yourself and hear how much of a slut you are.** "

The hand that was fastened onto Miro's hip moved downward toward his cock and stroked it at a rigorous speed. Actual tears spilled from his eyes as he watched himself become taken over by this delectable demon and before he knew it, he spilled onto Kurama's hand. Kurama fucked him through his orgasm, making him choke and tremble in pure bliss. It took a few extra thrusts but Kurama finally came into the condom and groaned (almost sounding identical to a roar) as he did so. The aftermath felt amazing with pleasurable twitches shocking them here and there. When Kurama softened, he pulled himself out of Miro and allowed Naruto to return to the front to take control. Naruto saw that Miro was already passed out and decided to do the same. He felt tired, but completely fucking satisfied and Kurama couldn't help but agree…

~*NUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNU*~

A loud banging woke Naruto up from his sleep. He felt groggy and noticed a warm body resting next to him—it was Miro. Looking outside of his window, he noted that it was barely light out so that had to mean it was before sunrise. The banging resumed which brought Naruto from his thoughts and reminded him he needed to answer the door. Miro had slowly woken up from the sounds but Naruto reassured him nothing was wrong and to remain in the bedroom. After throwing on some pants and growling at the rude assault on his door, he swung open the door to ready himself in reaming someone a new one. However, he had to hold his tongue when he saw it was none other than Sasuke and Sakura.

"W-What are you guys doing here? Is something wrong?"

Sakura was the one who spoke first. "No, we know it's early but we'd figure you'd be awake at this hour anyway for your early morning training. We wanted to talk to you." But then Sakura got a better look at Naruto's face and paled when she saw his whole chin and cheek stained in dry blood. "Oh my god, what happened?"

Naruto (who had no clue what the problem was) raised an eyebrow at her freak out. "Nothing, why?"

"Dobe, you're covered in blood."

" _Shit!_ " Naruto raced to the kitchen to wash his face in the sink.  _Fucking Kurama!_

"Naruto! What's wrong?!" Sakura shouted.

Naruto sighed and tried to figure out a solution to this mess. This would spell major trouble if he were found out in this fashion. "Nothing, alright, I trained really hard last night and got hurt."

"And you forgot to clean up?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"Hey, I trained with Kurama. He legitimately tires me out. I went straight to bed." It was a stretch but he could convince them it was a worthy lie, at least, he hoped. "Anyways, you guys said you needed to talk?"

This time, it was Sakura to sigh, as if she were tired of the games and beating around the bush. "Naruto, we're worried about you. You've been acting weird since you've left for Suna and even weirder now that you've come back. Is there something you need to tell us?"

A cold shiver ran down Naruto's spine.  _Shit, was I too obvious?_  "Not that I can think of. Why, is there something you think I need to tell you?"

Sakura opened her mouth to answer but all three of them heard a distinct sound of a toilet flushing in the other room and a faint clearing of the throat. Naruto kept a calm face but huge knots began turning in his stomach. "Naruto, is someone here?"

He couldn't answer. Both Sakura and Sasuke looked towards the bedroom door and then back at Naruto for an explanation. When he provided none, Sakura began walking towards the door. "Sakura, stop! Wait, stop, listen damn it! Sakura,  **stop!** " He bellowed. Sakura looked back with wide eyes and shock at the never-before heard tone he used on her. Even Sasuke looked surprised.

"I-I'm sorry…did-did you just scream at me?"

"I'm…sorry, really, I didn't mean to shout like that. I have…someone in there, alright?"

"Oh," Sakura said disbelievingly. "Is it Hinata?"

Naruto couldn't believe the audacity! "If it was, then why would you embarrass her by busting into my room while she's naked?" He asked with irritation lacing his tone. Sakura blushed after hearing him say naked, as if it were a surprise to hear Naruto say such a term without humor being involved. "To answer your question, no, it isn't Hinata, not that it matters, since, yes, believe it or not, I was having sex."

"I didn't—"

"You were having sex with blood on your face that you got from training?" It was Sasuke who asked.

Naruto looked to Sasuke, almost forgetting that he was even in the room. Unlike Sakura, who had various expressions crossing her face, Sasuke looked…angry? Like  _really_  pissed off, which only made Naruto wonder if something else was wrong? Although Naruto wanted to ask, fact of the matter was, Miro was still in his bedroom, it was early in the morning, and he still hadn't bathed or rested; so all in all, it just wasn't the right time for any of this bullshit.

"Guys, look, whatever the issue is, or what you think the issue is, can we do this another time? I have some meetings with Baa-chan later this morning, afterwards, I'm free. If you wanna talk then, then let's talk then, okay?"

Sakura, who was still shocked and confused about the whole ordeal looked to Sasuke for an answer. Sasuke remembered that he too had some free time later so it worked better anyway; it would be the  _last_  time he listened to Sakura's whining and disturb someone at the ass-crack of dawn!

"Fine, Dobe, meet us at the training grounds when you're all done."

Naruto nodded and looked towards the entrance door, subtly gesturing for them to leave. Sasuke respected that kind of response (knowing that he himself was capable of worse) and grabbed Sakura to follow him out. There were no exchanges of goodbyes or see ya's, just a quiet click of the front door. The whole apartment was finally quiet, once again, but Naruto's peace was still ruined. He couldn't help but feel irritable at Sakura for still viewing him like some kind of dumb child or Sasuke for following along and enabling her! He felt an urge to punch something but a voice disrupted him from acting on it.

"They don't know, do they?"

A heavy sigh escaped through Naruto's lips. That was answer enough since that was truthfully all he could manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *If you are confused by Miro's presence, please don't worry, his relationship will be explained!
> 
> *I've reread this chapter a few times and am unsure if it sounds a little fast-paced; if it is, please let me know. I gotta teach myself to slow it down a bit, but I don't know…
> 
> *I want to try and improve my smut scenes so please let me know (in general) what you like or don't like


	6. Things I Don't Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> Hey, so glad to finish another chapter! As EVERYBODY well knows, Naruto has finally finished guys ='[ and I'm unsure how to feel. I know not many people liked the ending, because there's this assumption that it was rushed and a little too happy-go-lucky; personally, I loved it and if you look closely, not everything is as peachy as you think; there's some realistic outcomes that make logical sense, but to each their own.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is a bit smutty—again (don't know if I'm just thinking too much about sex or what xD)—but a fun ending imo. Hope you like and PLEASE read the notes at the end, there is a special announcement!
> 
> Today's picture is of 7th Hokage Naruto; an older Naruto is by far a sexy piece of ass. And when he's in father mode (granted it was only for a little bit) I swooned. www / deviantart / com /art /Naruto – 700 – The – 7th – Hokage – 493689430.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter Five:**

"They don't know, do they?" Miro asked again.

As well, Naruto responded with another heavy sigh. "Miro, please, not right now."

The exhaustion laced with Naruto's tone made Miro feel guilty for wanting to argue but at the same time, he felt a little irritated at Naruto. "You're a hero and they're your friends. What fear of condemnation do you have?"

"And what would you know?!" Naruto snapped.

"You know better than anyone that I know a lot. Too much, I'd say."

The anger that contorted Naruto's expression softened, replacing it with sadness. "Miro, I'm sorry—" Why did it feel like he's just been apologizing non-stop?

"It's alright. How about you just head off to bed and get some rest. I believe you mentioned you had some duties to attend to later this morning?"

Naruto groaned. "I do but I won't be able to get any sleep."

"Perhaps a shower? I can draw one up for you, if you'd like."

"Will you join me?"

A light blush crawled across Miro's face at the implication which only pleased Naruto. "I…you've had a long day—"

"I always have stamina to spare, remember?" Miro's blush darkened but he didn't latch onto the idea as quick as Naruto wanted. "I understand if you don't want to stay…but I'd like to enjoy your company a little longer, if that's alright?"

"Yeah," he answered breathily. "T-That's okay."

"Thank you," Naruto whispered.

Miro awkwardly cleared his throat and made his way back towards the master bathroom. A hint of a smile was on Naruto's face but it didn't last long as he replayed how he even got into this whole situation. It felt redundant, all of his thoughts and questions, yet they continuously popped up in his head as if they were fresh. Did they know? And if they did, were they okay with it? But Sakura asked about Hinata…and what was up with Sasuke? The questions just kept coming! But what Miro had said echoed in Naruto's mind as well; a lot of people did respect him now since the war—even though it was 2 years ago—and he did gain a lot of friends. Not to mention, Sasuke and Sakura were more than friends, they were his family, Kaka-sensei included, so would they  _really_  reject him?

"Naruto?"

"Huh, oh yeah?" Naruto stumbled out, brought out of his thoughts.

"The bath is ready."

Naruto nodded and said nothing as he followed Miro back into the bathroom. Steam was already billowing up and out, fogging the mirrors and sweating all of the furniture. Despite the silence feeling awkward for Naruto, Miro was calm as he turned and undressed Naruto. Every caress felt uniquely gentle, causing shudders and light gasps from Naruto. There was no rush to his actions, which Naruto could only appreciate and Miro was glad he could do that for him. Before long, Naruto was sitting in the tub, getting his scalp massaged and soaped with some fancy citrus shampoo. The smell was divine—Naruto was sure if it was any of his products Miro was using but he really didn't care; as long as Miro didn't stop, he didn't care.

Softly, Miro murmured he needed to wash the soap out and asked for Naruto to close his eyes. The boiling water was carefully poured through his tresses, evoking a small moan from Naruto and a smile from Miro. Neither knew how long the whole process took, but it was certain that it was slow, erotic, and definitely calming, exactly the cure that Naruto needed. The whole time he listened to Miro's soft murmurs and felt his little fingertips, it was more incentive for his member to swell and demand as equal attention. He wanted to steer Miro's attention downward without looking like an asshole or some pervert who only thought about sex, but he needn't had worried since Miro was a pretty observant fellow. Naruto felt a light nip at the top of his ear and a husky laugh.

"Master seems to be in pain," he whispered in his ear.

" _Fuck_  I love this game," Naruto moaned. He felt Miro's fingers glide down his neck, onto his shoulders where his thumbs pressed onto all of his sore spots.

"Where does Master hurt?"

"Much lower than that," he replied as he guided one of Miro's hands to his erection. "It just pulses with want."

"Does Master already know what it wants?"

"Not exactly; it can't seem to decide between 'tight and hot' or 'wet and hot'."

"Hmm, perhaps I can help? To ease Master's pain?"

"Yes, please!"

"Then please stand up so I can dry you off."

Naruto obeyed, standing up and getting out of the tub with Miro holding a towel in his hands, waiting. Just like when he undressed him, Miro didn't rush at swiping Naruto's skin with the towel; he caught every droplet, rubbed soothingly and raised slivers of goosbumps all throughout his skin. Miro grabbed his hand and led him back into the bedroom where he had him stand as he fetched something back in the bathroom. When he came back, Naruto saw a small bottle in his hand and tried his best to look at what it was.

"I'm quite cold," Naruto stated.

"Patience, Master, you'll be warm very soon." Miro was smiling. He opened the clear little bottle and poured the contents into his hand, rubbing it together between his hands to warm it up.

Naruto slightly winced when the substance touched his skin, since it still felt a little cool, but Miro's warmth swaying over his skin erased the feeling instantly. Miro had started with Naruto's calves, moving up at a snail's pace, but quickly moving down, only to repeat the motion a few times. He played with Naruto's thighs, pressing his thumbs into the steel-like muscles and gaining approving groans from their owner. Purposefully, he neglected Naruto's member as he circled his hands around to grab at the two globes of flesh, kneading it until it was loose and demanding within his grasp. Naruto demanded for him to hurry, but Miro took his time, touching every muscle, every curve, every crevice of Naruto's body, until the whole mass was saturated in oil. Naruto could only grow impatient, including Kurama who witnessed this whole erotic play, and began growling for some 'immediate' attention. Thankfully, Miro had just finished massaging Naruto's shoulders so he had no more excuses to hold this off. However, he still wanted to tease the sexually pent-up Naruto; he faced Naruto with a mischievous smirk and slowly knelt down until he was eye-level with Naruto's cock. He, once again, placed his hands upon Naruto's thighs, letting them roam up, down, in between, but never on the actual organ that needed his touch. He inched his face closer to Naruto's cock, admiring the angry coloring and the heady scent permuting from him, and slicked his tongue out only to lick his inner thigh.

" _ **Miro**_!" Naruto and Kurama snarled.

"Yes, Master?"

" _ **Either suck or I'll drag you outside and fuck you out in the open**_."

Miro could only whimper; little did Naruto know, Miro could care less where they fucked—in front of people, in a public bathroom, in a coffin—as long as they could, he'd obey. Nevertheless, he grabbed the throbbing cock in his hand, feeling it pulse in unison with Naruto's quickening heartbeat, and guided it towards his awaiting mouth. Perhaps he should have been embarrassed by the excess drool leaking from his mouth, but he wasn't—no, Miro was salivating at the anticipation. He couldn't  _wait_  to taste him and have the all-powerful hero of the war falling at his administration of pleasure. Miro pressed his lips together and forced Naruto's cock to nudge them back open and suckled at the head. Immediately, Naruto threw his head back with a long moan, throwing his hand upon Miro's head to clutch at his hair as if it were a life line. He could feel the foreskin of his cock consenting to the domination, a sensation that had his knees wobbling with pleasurable weakness. Miro reveled in the sound of Naruto moaning and huffing, almost as if he were in pain and could not tolerate the torture for any longer, but a sadistic part of Miro wanted him to suffer, he wanted Naruto to writhe and gasp, even if only a little.

He relaxed his throat and slowly ventured deeper, taking a deep breath, inhaling that nameless, musky scent that enthralled him as he felt the tip feather the back of his throat. He nearly gagged but the resisted the urge, focusing on the task as if his life depended on it. The course blonde curls tickled his nose and he opened his eyes—having not realized he had even closed them—to see Naruto staring down at him with such a wanton expression. One of his eyes were crystal blue while the other was crimson red, the whisker marks were still pronounced but the fangs were nowhere to be seen, and his claws, that he could feel tracing his scalp, were still out. Miro hallowed his cheeks, giving a harsh suck that sparked a feral growl from Naruto/Kurama; he repeated the motion until he established a rhythm. Naruto, however, didn't want rhythm, he wanted sporadic, uncontrolled, uninhibited fucking.

Naruto yanked Miro's hair to push his head back, and without any warning, he snapped his hips forward to lunge his cock back into Miro's mouth. There was a surprise gasp but he did nothing to stop Naruto from the onslaught of thrusts. Miro felt the edge of his eyes water, which blurred his vision, but he loved every minute of it, especially looking up and catching a watery Naruto looking so disheveled. He embraced the brutality and only tried his best to suck harder, to bring Naruto closer to the edge. He began to hear a noise that was subtly obnoxious but also carnal; Naruto suddenly stopped and completely pulled out of Miro's mouth.

"What, why—"

" _ **You've been fucking my foot and howling like a bitch**_."

Miro gasped and flushed with embarrassment—that noise was him! He's been humping the floor and moaning, not even realizing his own member was profusely leaking.

"D-Does this displease Master?" He questioned in trepidation.

A devilish grin cracked Naruto's face in half. " _ **No, you've been a very good boy. I want you to touch yourself while I come on your face.**_ " It felt as if a large butterfly fluttered through Miro's spine; he was too excited, too happy at Naruto's praise. " _ **Do not close your eyes, do you understand?**_ "

"Yes, Master."

Naruto yanked Miro's hair again to tilt his head back and began viciously stroking himself right above his face. Miro mimicked the speed as best he could, panting and gasping every time his thumb swiped over the tip of his cock. He focused on nothing but Naruto's cock, watching the folds of his skin roll back and forth, revealing the shiny head underneath as if the two were playing a game. The heady scent from before was amplified, intoxicating Miro until he felt light-headed and dazed. As Naruto increased his speed, so did Miro; they were in concert with one another, stroking with desire, only allowing instinct to dictate the motions.

" _ **Fuck I'm close**_ ," Naruto grunted.

"Yes, Master, me too."

His fisted hand stroked even faster, slapping against his skin, drawing out unimaginable heat from underneath his skin. Naruto's eyes wanted to roll in the back of his head, but he wanted to keep his eyes open like Miro, just like Miro's were on him. Suddenly, he felt his self-control snap—to his utter surprise—and his lower belly exploded with tremors of bliss. Thick strings of cum coated Miro's face, hitting all the way up to his hairline, forehead, and cheeks. Naruto was breathing harshly, feeling a euphoric sense of high that he was having difficulty coming down from (not that he really wanted to). Once his heart slowed and his breathing returned, Naruto looked back down at Miro and saw an expression that he wanted to burn into his memories; Miro was pink-skinned with glazed, half-lidded eyes, hair slicked with some sweat and come, and a goofy grin that highly resembled that of a child. For some reason, the image was erotic yet childishly innocent; it spurred something in Naruto that made him wonder which aspect of this image turned him on more.

"Master?" Miro inquired. He had been trying to read Naruto's face to gouge what he might have been thinking about but he couldn't get a proper read.

Naruto smiled and laced his fingers around Miro's chin to gain a closer look at him. " _ **Lay on your back, Miro. I am far from done with you**_."

How Naruto was able to turn him on the way that he had, Miro could never know, but sure enough, his flaccid cock was slowly coming to life and Naruto was waiting to devour it. All Miro could do—all he wanted to do—was obey…

~*NUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNU*~

After the embarrassing fiasco last night, Sasuke wasn't sure what to expect later on in the afternoon when he could finally talk to Naruto. This wasn't his forte, he wasn't a talker or a  _feelings_  type of guy, yet there was some kind of urge to find out what this was. Albeit, some of this urgency was also a bit of irritation at Sakura for putting him through a panic; although, seeing Naruto last night, evading some of their questions, and what the hell was with that blood?! Plus, he was having sex, with blood on his face! The whole situation just seemed weird as all hell, and despite Naruto being well known as the number one, knuckle-headed, unpredictable ninja, this was extreme—nothing made sense. Not to mention,  _who_  was Naruto having sex with? Sasuke wasn't stupid, he began seeing more women flocking themselves at him, blushing and touching his arms or winking at him as if he were some fancy lord of the lands, but Sasuke never saw the actions reciprocated. Which was ironic since all Naruto ever wanted was attention and girls noticing him; he remembered how envious Naruto was of him when the girls gossiped about him instead of Naruto, wishing to be his bride, have his children…

But now, now it's a different story! Now Naruto was older, meeting and befriending new people, leading a whole new life that for some reason, didn't include him or Sakura. This…irked Sasuke…a lot. Naruto and him have a  _long_  history, a friendship indefinable by any language or belief—for god sakes, they are reincarnations that have met each other in numerous lifetimes! So what the  _fuck_  was Naruto not satisfied with? What was he hiding and why, of all people, from him?! If he was sick, As Sakura mentioned, what was Sasuke supposed to do? Not that he'd ever say it out loud, but no one in existence could ever be placed in the 'best friend' slot other than Naruto. Could he handle a terminally ill Naruto?

"Fuck!" Sasuke growled as he punched the wall of his bathroom. It was early in the morning when he woke up and showered, contemplating everything about the recent events centered on Naruto.

Minutely, his hand ached, but he didn't care. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. With that in mind, Sasuke quickly dressed himself and headed for the kitchen, barely acknowledging Tachi, his loving cat. Somehow, in his furious state, he remembered to throw some food in the bowl, so at least Tachi wasn't going to starve. He headed out the door and hurried to the Hokage's office, impatient on waiting where he originally said he'd be.

 _Be ready Naruto cause you're not going to be avoiding shit_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT*
> 
> I will be [very soon] creating a website where I will be posting my own original works that I am currently working on right now. There is no date and I still need to work on my stories before everything is up, but I just wanted everyone to know so they can keep a lookout for when I put it up. I will still write my fan-fics so if you are a fan of them, don't worry, CrimsonNi will still post them =]
> 
> Thanks so much, hope you enjoy and please review!


	7. Secrets and Circles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> Whoa, so glad to have finished a chapter! I've been trying to outline the chapters of this story and I'm excited of the direction it's currently going. Until then, here's one for you. Gotta warn you, it's a bit dialogue-y, but I tried to even out the ratio with some description and such. I thought I was going to hate this chapter since it feels a bit angst-y but I actually liked it. Haha, angry Naruto is a fun Naruto…I'm messed up. Anyway, enjoy and please review!
> 
> Today's picture is a KakaNaru pic. LMFAO I've been reading some KakaNaru smut (I ship it, so what?!) and added some Kakashi in this chapter so I figured, why not? www-deviantart-com-art-AND - ANOTHER- 107980158
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter Six:**

By the time Naruto woke up, Miro was already gone. He gave his room a quick glance, noting that Miro was kind enough to tidy the place up even though he hadn't gained any sleep after last night. Even the kitchen and living room were clean.  _That idiot…_ Naruto thought. A smile began blooming upon Naruto's face when he mentally recapped what happened on the bedroom floor and again on the bed—he'd have to thank Miro when he got the chance. But for now, Naruto had no time and had to get ready for whatever duties were scheduled for the day.

The shower was quick, the walk to the office was quick, even the mild conversations Naruto had with bystanders as he made his way were quick, yet everything felt as if it went in slow motion. Already he wanted the day to be over with. But as a shinobi that consistently brags how he's a man of his word, he dragged his feet into the office.

"You're lucky, I was about to fetch some ANBU after you if you were to walk in here late."

"Baa-chan—"

"Stupid! What have I told you about calling me that?!" Tsunade roared as she chucked a stapler at Naruto.

"OW! What are you trying to do? Kill me?!"

"Shut up and sit down. We're already behind as is."

Naruto looked around the office while making his way to the double-seated couch at the far wall. Noting that it was safe to talk, he leaned his head back and exhaled. "Did the results come in?"

"Who the hell do you think you're asking?" Tsunade snarked. "Of course they came in and it isn't good."

Naruto shot right up with alarm clear in his eyes. "What is it?"

"Whatever it is, it's powerful—"

"Wait, you don't know what it is?"

"Not completely, no. From what I could gather up from the samples and the records sent to me, this is a mutation genetically made to attack the nervous system."

"….What?"

Tsunade sighed heavily. "A bad guy cooked it up somewhere to affect and destroy the wiring of the body."

"What?! People can do that?! How?!"

"Would you  **SHUT UP!**  Why are you surprised—you've experienced this first hand! Remember Kabuto? He's a perfect example of a medical genius capable of  _creating_  dangerous chemicals like this."

"Oh, right, well is this his work? Because if it's not then we have a problem; other than him, you, Sakura-chan, and Shizune-nee-chan, there's not that many medical geniuses running around."

"I know, I already have ANBU looking into it. Whoever made this, I'm afraid, might be more of a threat than Kabuto ever was. There are some components in this…poison that I've never seen before."

"So what does this mean for me?"

"That whoever made this isn't playing any games. They're in it for the whole circus with the clear intent on taking down a tailed beast and its human container."

Naruto looked venomously at Tsunade, his claws already protruding and his whisker marks darkening. "Then just let them  _try_."

"Before you go off on your crusade, there's something else I need to tell you."

"More bad news?"

"Depends. She underestimates my power of observation and thinks I didn't notice but I found the medical files you sent me to be tampered with."

"'She' meaning…?"

"Sakura; I think she might have looked at them and deciphered the forms…"

"Damn it! No wonder her and Sasuke-teme have been acting so weird!"

"Although I may understand what her—their—motives were for looking into that file, I still have to serve some punishment."

"No, don't do that! Sakura-chan was just worried; lemme talk to her, try and get her off my back. I'm having lunch with the both of them this afternoon."

Tsunade hummed, pulling the tip of her thumbnail into her mouth for her to bite on as she thought Naruto's words over. "Fine, but make sure she understands,  _got it_? I love Sakura to death but even I can't tolerate lying or misconduct."

"Sure, sure, leave it to me –Dattebayo! See ya later, Baa-chan! I've got some research to do!" Naruto shouted before a heavy book was thrown his way. He managed to duck and escape the office with the sounds of his laugh echoing down the halls.

For a guy that's had explosions go off just a few yards from his ear drums, nothing sounded louder to him than the ticking of that damn clock.  _Tick, tick, tick…_

He should have gone straight to the Hokage's office like he originally wanted but damn these mandatory sessions. His fingers twitched with each tick, his teeth dug a tad deeper into his bottom lip with each tock. Maybe if he spoke, answered whatever question was asked of him, it would drown out the noise. But then again, Sasuke hated talking; shouldn't the guy have realized that by now? Why keep asking questions? He's just been staring right at Sasuke, without moving or blinking—it was beginning to be disturbing. Another round of ticks registered into Sasuke's mind.

"Sasuke?"

"What?" he growled. Truthfully, he hadn't meant to respond like that, but the clock was getting to him and he didn't feel like being here. He wanted to leave and meet up with Naruto already.

The counselor was a ridiculously tall man, probably about 7 feet tall with the dullest features Sasuke had ever seen on a person; brown shaggy hair, boring brown eyes, a narrow nose, smooth chin—he could pass as Kiba's abandoned older brother. However, despite the man's unoriginal features, there was something eerie about him that Sasuke couldn't pinpoint. It was almost as if he could see right through Sasuke and tease the thoughts that plagued his mind. "I asked if everything was ok. You seem bothered by something."

How could he tell? Aside from frowning and remaining stoic, what other expressions did Sasuke show on his face that created such theories of his thoughts? "Not really," Sasuke replied curtly.

"Not really? Could that imply something that isn't bothering you is on your mind?"

Not exactly reverse psychology, but definitely an interesting angle. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Any particular reason?"

"My teammate, Sakura, dragged me over to my other teammate's apartment to interrogate him. He just got back from his mission in Suna."

"Ah, Mr. Uzumaki—how is he?"

"I don't know…," Sasuke shamefully admitted. He hated not having all of the information and he hated how pitiful he sounded at not knowing.

"What do you mean, Sasuke? Is he alright?"

"I don't know. Sakura…she found his medical record in the Hokage's office and she said it was encrypted with the mention that something may be wrong with Naruto's health but it didn't specify more than that." For a second Sasuke briefly wondered if mentioning so much information was acceptable; these sessions were always noted to be sent to the Hokage and just now, he threw Sakura under the horse. Maybe if the explain…?

"So you went to his apartment last night to confront him about what you found?"

"Hn." He replied, regaining his attention back on topic.

"And what was his response?"

"…He didn't say. When he answered the door, he was preoccupied…with something else." The counselor patiently waited for Sasuke to continue, allowing the sounds of the clock to resume again. Sasuke sighed heavily and cleared his throat as he straightened up. "He had  _someone_  over," he said with a scowl.

"Did that bother you?"

There was that feeling again, like he could see Sasuke's thoughts and feelings personified in little caricatures dancing in front of them. Sasuke replayed their whole conversation thus far and tried to find where he faltered, where his voice weakened enough to alert this guy to what he was thinking. He was  _too_  good for Sasuke's liking.

"What does?" He decided to play dumb.

"The thought of Naruto with someone else? Or is it the thought of him with someone else intimately?"

"What's the difference?" Sasuke snapped angrily.

"You tell me," the counselor challenged.

"What the  **fuck**  does that mean?"

The counselor lightly huffed through his nose. "How about you give that question some thought and how it correlates to your relationship with Naruto at our next session."

The air felt tense around Sasuke; he felt as if his lungs were shrinking while his blood was pumping much too fast for his body to control. He was seeing red. " **I am** _ **not**_ **a homo.** "

"I didn't say that you were."

"You don't have any issues implying it! That's disgusting and he's my friend; I don't harbor those kinds of… _feelings_  for that dobe."

Another huff. "Fair enough, Sasuke, I apologize if I've overstepped the boundary line. However, I do want you to give everything that we've talked about today some thought. Can you do that?"

"Hn," Sasuke barely managed before he snatched his belongings and raced out the door. He was seething and didn't want to spend another minute in that room. The hell he was going to  _think_  about Naruto in that light! The guy was sick, Sasuke hated him, and he was a fucking quack that needed to die…or disappear— whichever came first.

The anger that coursed through him led him in the direction of the Hokage's office; he needed to square this problem with Naruto and resume back to their old ways. So he ran straight forward, bypassing all of the merchants and random nobodies, zooming right through the doors of the building. Immediately, he could sense Naruto's enormous chakra pulsing through the building. Sasuke relaxed, finding some comfort in the familiar chakra. Almost as if he could smell it, Sasuke followed the scent of the spicy, earthy chakra up a flight of stairs and into a long hallway. The closer he moved, the more suffocating the chakra felt, but that was a common feeling when hanging around Naruto; he wasn't the only one, many of their friends and teachers all vouched that even standing a couple yards away from Naruto could be intimidating.

Naruto was standing at the end of the hallway, his laugh reaching Sasuke's ear as if they were standing right next to each other. He looked to see what was so amusing to his friend and found him talking animatedly to their sensei, Kakashi. Naruto was flailing his hands, smiling and widening his eyes so big that it was a wonder how the skin around his face could keep up. Whatever they were talking about, Kakashi seemed rapt in the conversation, even though it was hard to tell since his face always seemed disinterested and bored, but Sasuke could tell. Training long enough with the guy gave him adequate experience in how to read him.

Kakashi must have sensed Sasuke's chakra since he stopped talking mid-sentence to look down the hallway and stare directly at Sasuke. Upon noticing that he was correct, he crinkled his visible eye and smiled. "Hello, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto followed suit but seemed more surprised than happy. "Teme? What're you doing here?"

Did he have to constantly explain his presence to people? Was it a problem that he interrupted their secret conversation? Even if it was, he had his own business to attend to with Naruto. "I finished earlier than expected."

"Um…ah, you're a bit early," Naruto said with a nervous hand behind his neck. He kept giving Kakashi sideway glances, furthering angering Sasuke.

Before Sasuke could object, Kakashi patted Naruto on the shoulder and gave another smile. "Maa, Naruto, it's alright. We can continue this another time."

"Are you sure?"

"Mmmhmm, now go on. Sasuke-kun wants you."

Sasuke  _glared_. He filled his eyes with as much murderous intent as he could muster and threw it at Kakashi as if it were one of Naruto's beast bombs! He suddenly remembered how much he disliked Kakashi; sure, when he was a kid, he admired this guy, his cool, aloof attitude, and his infamous reputation, but after training with him and learning more about this man, Sasuke only grew to be disappointed. Kakashi was nothing more than an overhype, a gossip that got too out of hand. So much so that even Naruto was still glamorized by his faux charm. But Sasuke also remembered how much Kakashi favored him more than Naruto and how much Naruto envied that…yet now Kakashi favored Naruto? Is this his way of making it up to Naruto for all of those years of neglect or did they develop a whole different kind of relationship while Sasuke was away?

"Naruto, let's go," Sasuke ordered.

"Okay, bye Kaka-sensei! Next time!"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the arm and dragged him back down the hallway and steps, ignoring the loud protests from the arm's owner. Could this day get any worse? Nothing was going Sasuke's way and he felt so internally constricted from having to resist from resorting to murder. Naruto's squirming was grating on his nerves, so he finally stopped walking and turned around to glare at his friend. "Would you stop it?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke incredulously, as if he had six heads growing out of his neck. "Are you kidding me?! You're the one dragging me all over the place like some maniac!"

"We had a meeting. We have to talk, remember?"

"Yes, at the training grounds, by noon!  _You_  came to me  _early_  and were so rude to Kaka-sensei—"

"Since when are you so chummy with Kakashi?"

That question threw Naruto off guard. It wasn't one he'd ever expect to be asked because he wasn't sure what it was Sasuke was hinting at. "What're you talking about?"

"I'm asking you since when have the two of you been best friends, talking amongst yourselves?"

"Sasuke, are you fucking kidding me? He isn't some random guy, he's Kaka-sensei. You know, our former sensei, leader of Team 7, our teammate…"

"You weren't saying that when you used to beg for his attention. What, so I left and you're my replacement now?"

"Fuck you," Naruto spat, clearly hurt by those words. "I don't know what you're talking about or what's your problem but find me when you pull that stick outta your ass."

Unperturbed by the brush off, Sasuke continued. "Tell me, what other secrets are you hiding?"

Naruto froze, suddenly washed over with guilt. Unfortunately, he a couple of things he was hiding from Sasuke, but with the way he was acting now, he couldn't say anything even if he wanted to. He couldn't. He wouldn't. "I keep telling you, I don't know what you're talking—"

Sasuke then roughly grabbed Naruto's arm and turned him over to hiss in his face. His face was so close, Naruto could feel spittle hit his cheeks and mouth. "Sakura read your files. She says you're  _sick_!"

"Fuck outta my face!" Naruto shouted as he shoved Sasuke away from him. "That was both of your faults for snooping into shit that ain't your business."

"You would have done the same if it were one of us instead! So don't go playing high and mighty, Mr. Hero of Konoha."

"Heh, you weren't saying that before you left the village…and abandoned us," Naruto countered, immediately regretting the words. He saw the hurt flash across Sasuke's face before contorting back to his angered expression. Damn it, he hated when he randomly grew witty like this. Whenever he argued against anyone else—Kaka-sensei, Sakura-chan, even Sai—he would stammer, say something childish, whine, feel absolutely stupid because he couldn't come up with a clever reply or comment. But when he argued with Sasuke, he felt like a fucking scholar!

Maybe because Sasuke threw insults that were like boomerangs and could be easily whirled around right back or maybe they knew each other so well, it was just easier to find the most striking of insults. Whatever the reason, Naruto hated it because he couldn't stand being the reason for that scowl on Sasuke's face.

"Fuck you," Sasuke finally replied. He then turned and hopped away on the rooftops, leaving Naruto to gloat in his unwanted victory.


	8. Could Have, Should Have

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!
> 
> Another chapter finished! Sorry if this feels a little short but hopefully you enjoy it all the same. Gonna be a little honest though, I had slightly more fun writing the previous chapter and the end of this one and I'm starting to figure out why...I think I enjoy it when [my—meaning Kishi's] characters are arguing or feeling angsty. Yeeeeeah, I'm weird xD!
> 
> Anywhoozies, the second half of this chapter, I was totally not expecting even though I've outlined this chapter way a head of time but I'm super glad it happened. It will only add on to the shit that will eventually go down...DUN DUN DUN!
> 
> Today's picture is going to be not from the Naruto-verse, but from the SNK universe. I'm a HUGE EreRi shipper so I couldn't help but share some extra yaoi love xD. Don't judge me! .com(slash)art(slash)SnK – Ereri - 438036421
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!
> 
> Eggs and Bacon,
> 
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter** **Seven** **:**

"Wait a minute, wait a minute—he said what now?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes but indulged her anyway. "He said it wasn't any of our business. He's obviously hiding something but..."

"It's just...that doesn't sound like Naruto. Maybe  _I_  should go talk to him; he'd be less likely to fight with me."

"Hn," Sasuke agreed. He was still immensely peeved about what had occurred earlier with Naruto. A part of him felt satisfied that he left that dobe where he stood, to stew in his own guilt until he could no longer take it and come running back to them to apologize. But another part replayed everything Naruto had said to him and made him wonder. Clearly there were still some unresolved issues between the two of them that might have been glanced over since the war ended. Not that Sasuke was complaining—he wasn't a feelings sort of guy so if Naruto was willing to forgive him without having  _The Talk_ , he'd be more than happy to go with it. Obviously, that sort of mentality wasn't going to last forever.

"I better start heading back, my break's almost over. I'll grab Naruto after work and take him to the ramen shop—I'll talk to him there."

Sasuke just nodded in approval.

"I expect you to be there as well."

"What?" Sasuke grumbled. "Didn't you just hear me telly you how we fought? I don't think he'd want to see me, let alone talk."

Sakura rolled her eyes and huffed in exasperation. "Fine, then hide in the shadows for all I care, but at least hear out for what he has to say. I don't want the two of you fighting forever."

There was nothing more to say as she placed some money on the table and headed out the restaurant. After his fight with Naruto, Sasuke had grabbed Sakura from the hospital and forced her to take her lunch break early. His mood didn't change, however, even though he confessed everything to Sakura. Nothing felt accomplished. Realizing that just peeved him even more! With so much debate ping-ponging back and forth in his head, Sasuke could feel a headache brewing—a nasty one. Perhaps it was just best to forget the whole thing, forget Naruto and his child-like attitude. Just fuck him—!

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

Who the fuck was he fooling? Like some freaky stalker, Sasuke hid in the darkest corner of the ramen shop, dressed from top to bottom in nothing but black: a black hat, a black coat, a pair of black boots, even black gloves. He zeroed in on Sakura and Naruto giggling at lord-knows-what, chatting about unnecessary things that had nothing to do with what Sasuke wanted to know! Thankfully, after the old man that adored Naruto since he was child served his bowl, the tone shifted and Sakura finally stopped beating around the bush.

"Ne, Naruto...?"

"Yeah?"

"So I spoke to Sasuke earlier—"

Naruto groaned and hastily wiped at his mouth as if preparing himself for a verbal war. "I knew something was up. If you're here to defend him, then let me tell you-"

"No, it's nothing like that! Sasuke would fry me if he thought I were doing that anyway."

"Then what is it?"

"Look, I'll admit fault at snooping into something that wasn't my business, but in my defense, Tsunade-sama was acting too suspicious, so when I saw your name, I thought something was up. Actually, I still think something is up..."

Running a hand through his hair, Naruto glanced at Sakura, holding her sight a moment before holding his hand out. Sasuke couldn't get a read on his expression; it was mellow but with some twinge of the old Naruto that used to beam with excitement. There were a few more moments of silence as Sakura stared at the offered hand before placing her own into his. Aside from the size, she immediately noted the warmth and the rough but gentle texture of his hand. His thumb glided over the skin of her hand and only applied the softest of pressure to regain her attention.

"It's not what you think."

"Then-"

"But I can't tell you anything more than that. It's classified, Sakura-chan."

"Can you at least tell me if you're alright?" Her voice faltered at the end, clearly scared at the potential of an unwanted answer.

"Yes...for now, everything is fine."

Silence reigned on them for a few moments, solidifying the unworded promises passed between them. Sakura had no idea what was going on, but Naruto was never one to lie to her. If he was promising that he was fine—medically-then she could accept that for now. Hopefully, Sasuke would as well.

"Then does this mean you and Sasuke can stop fighting now?"

His complacent expression turned into a deep scowl. "I thought you weren't defending him."

Sakura rolled her eyes at the childish response. "I'm not, but it sucks when the two of you don't get along. Please? Do it for me?" She squeezed her hand that was still firmly grasped within Naruto's hand.

Sakura was too oblivious to notice, but Sasuke saw the minute changes in his expression; pain was etched across Naruto's face, as if burned by Sakura's pleas. He, without wanting it to seem harsh, took possession of his hand and forced out a smile. The two continued talking (only because Naruto had two more bowls he wanted to finish) before paying for their meal and heading out. Naruto insisted on walking Sakura home, but she punched him in the gut and scolded him for not trusting her to kick any stalker's ass! So much for chivalry. Thus, Naruto walked by himself...with Sasuke tailing not too far away. It was a bit vexing as to why Naruto took the long way home, but Sasuke followed without a sound, wanting to see what it was Naruto was thinking. It wasn't long before Naruto reached the training grounds and stood by the large body of water.  _What the hell is he doing?_

"You know, for a guy that works in ANBU, you kinda suck at hiding."

After frowning (and feeling endlessly embarrassed), Sasuke saw no point in hiding in the trees any longer and jumped down to stand a few feet away from Naruto. "How'd you know?"

"Heh," he replied with hesitation. "Actually, Kurama ratted you out."

"He must not like me then."

"Don't take that personally...he doesn't like a lot of people. He's a great companion, though."

Sasuke took the conversation about the Fox as an ice-breaker and as a cue to walk a little closer to stand next to him by the water. It felt awkward for either of them not to say anything at first but once Sasuke got to staring at the moon, he felt a little calmer. The air surrounding the both of them felt a lot less tense. "I...overheard you at the restaurant."

Naruto sighed heavily but Sasuke wasn't sure if it were out of relief or frustration. "Of course you did."

The two of them gambled a look at each other before uttering the one name responsible for this. "Sakura."

"She was genuinely worried about you."

"I know, and I'm sorry. And...I'm sorry...about before."

"Hn."

"You ass! You're suppose to apologize too!"

"What do I have to apologize for? I'm an Uchiha, we never have anything to apologize for."

"Oh God, it just sounds like you have a weird sneeze! Like someone has to bless you every time you introduce yourself."

"Then what the fuck about Uzumaki? Sounds like a species of trolls and I can't be that far off since your hair looks just like one."

"YOU of all people are going to talk about hair?! Have you seen yours? It's shaped like the ass of a duck! Seriously, who told you that was okay?"

"Obviously all of the fangirls squealing for my attention since I was 5!"

"Okay so 95 percent of Konoha women suffer from eye problems, that doesn't prove shit. Your hair is still retarded."

"It takes a retard to point out a retard."

"So you're admitting your hair looks retarded?"

Sasuke was ready to retort but then he looked at Naruto and froze. The dobe was smiling with the moon and water reflecting off of his skin, highlighting the intensity of his blue eyes. It was paralyzing...but not in a way that made Sasuke want to distance from it. But of course, Sasuke's mind had to be triggered to remember the last thing he wanted to think about:

_'Did that bother you?'_

_'The thought of Naruto with someone else? Or is it the thought of him with someone else intimately?'_

_'How about you give that question some thought and how it correlates to your_ _ relationship _ _with Naruto.'_

"Teme?" Naruto's voice brought him out of his reverie. Sasuke noticed there was a light blush across his cheeks mixed with a look of worry.

"It's nothing. I have to go."

"Sure but is everything...alright?"

"Yes, I just have to go. Work early in the morning. Don't hurt yourself with anymore training, Dobe."

"Bastard," he joked back but Sasuke could tell it was slightly forced. Almost as if he were disappointed. "Take care."

Sasuke nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Naruto once again on his own. There was an enlightened feeling fluttering in his chest now that the two have made up but it still hadn't felt enough. Perhaps Naruto was being selfish in wanting more yet he couldn't help but replay the look on Sasuke's face as they bantered back and forth. He was genuinely smiling—not smirking or doing some lop-sided grin, but an actual smile. However, a sliver of fear bubbled at the end of Naruto's throat; what if Sasuke noticed something? Did Naruto accidentally let his mask slip? The consequences were terrifying to think about. The two contrasting feelings only spurred on Naruto's frustration.

_What am I going to do?_

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

The winds were howling more violently than usual in the land of Suna. If it were any other normal day, the Kazakage would have easily ignored it, but he couldn't shake the anxious feeling nipping at his thoughts. Secretly, he'd always find it funny that he wasn't one to believe in superstitions even though he'd been through so much (seriously, what average person would believe that his pregnant mother died from giving birth to a child with a sand demon sealed inside of it?). Even in a world full of animal summonings and bringing the dead back to life, it still took a good amount of evidence to convince people of something. Himself included. Except this time, he just  _knew_  something was wrong even with the little evidence he had to show for it. The whole situation with Naruto was nothing but the prologue, if anything else.

"Kazakage-sama?"

Gaara turned his gaze away from the window and looked to see it was one of his personal assistants, Matsuri. She was a petite young woman that now had her hair grown slightly past her shoulders, skin as pale colored as his, but her eyes were two almond-shaped black orbs that always looked happy to see him. Despite his lack of social experience, Gaara was wise enough to learn of Matsuri's intentions. Naruto had said it was a crush (he'd definitely know) but Gaara wasn't sure how to respond to such feelings. Matsuri was certainly pretty and great company to keep around but he wasn't sure if it was anything more than that. Was he suppose to feel everything Naruto described when he told him about his crush on Sakura-san? For Gaara, it was hard to tell in spite of their similarities since they did have two different upbringings. It made Gaara wonder if perhaps he was immune to certain physiological reactions...?

"Kazakage-sama?" Matsuri said again.

"I apologize, Matsuri-san. How can I help you?"

She smiled upon gaining his attention. "I just wanted to make sure you ate your meal, Sir."

"Ah...I'm sorry, I seem to have been distracted with some of these documents," he lied.

A crestfallen look came upon Matsuri's face. She had been recently appointed to manage and monitor the Kazakage's meals due to recent events, so she looked forward to his praise. "Oh, I see. It's best if you take good care of yourself, Kazakage-sama. I've made sure to triple check everything before it's handed to you, so if that's what you're worried about-"

"No, Matsuri-san, you've done an exceptional job. The paper work has just been piling up and it became overwhelming. I assure you, you are doing fine."

Matsuri cheered right up from his words. She began babbling about numerous things that Gaara just zoned out without even meaning to. He had to resist letting out a long and drawn out sigh that was begging to be released.  _Perhaps I should invest in Naruto's insurance policy and have a 'talk' with him..._


	9. What Does It Mean?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> Hey guys, as mentioned in my other story, this semester of grad school has been kicking my ass and although I’ve said similar excuses in the past, I still am very sorry. After finishing many papers and presentations, one would think I would jump right into writing, but that wasn’t the case, and instead I was left with no motivation. To help with that, I started reading tons of yaoi and marathoning through Youtube like I was some homeless otaku until I got my mojo back. So, here I am with another chapter!  
> Okay, so this chapter does have a lot of scene changes in the middle which isn’t my normal writing style (particularly with the back and forth) but I thought in this case it was necessary so I hope you’re not too displeased with this set up. As well, there is a section of this chapter that after rereading it, I realized it sounds exactly like Twilight in the sense that I describe Naruto the way Bella reverently describes Edward =/ So I apologize in advance for that. I didn’t change or take it out because in the end, that’s the way that character feels about Naruto…plus Naruto is hot =P. WARNING: Finally, there are 2 sex scenes but only 1 was delved into because I didn’t know nor feel like appropriating the exact responses from the other scene so I let it remain a mystery. So this isn’t my fav chapter but it was a necessary one imo so please enjoy!  
> Moving on, here’s the newest pic: http(colon)(double slash)www (dot) deviantart (dot) com(slash)art(slash)narusasu(dash)kiriban(dash)kiss(dash)177538030.   
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter Eight:

 

            The sound of a terrifying banging echoed throughout his apartment home, waking him up in a startling fashion. He looked at his alarm clock stationed on his night table and read that it was 3 in the morning; shuffling to find some sweats to put on, he hurried to the door as the banging intensified, worrying him that he was either going to be killed by some erratic murderer or something else was wrong. Peeping through the little peep hole, he recognized a familiar silhouette—the hair was a dead giveaway.           

“Sasuke? What’s the matter?”

“I’ve thought about it…the questions.”           

Having to collect his thoughts, the counselor had to remember what it was Sasuke was talking about, but thankfully—for his sake—it didn’t take him long to remember their conversation. “Of…course, but I thought we were to discuss this during our next session?” 

“I can’t!” Sasuke snarled angrily. He rudely pushed his way inside of the apartment, alarming the counselor and having him wonder if Sasuke were having an episode of some sort. Upon taking a closer look at Sasuke’s appearance, he noticed the disheveled hair and sweaty exterior.

“Sasuke, are you alright?” he quietly asked.

“No! No, I’m not alright! You asked me those questions and now I know. I _know_. I went home…,” he paused and looked at the counselor with a desperate expression, one that he had never shown before. He tried moving his mouth to say more, but no other words could form. 

“Okay, deep breaths; so you went home, what were you doing before you went home?”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and violently bit into his bottom lip causing a tear and blood to pool. The counselor remained silent, wanting to wait for Sasuke to form his thoughts. “I was…talking with the dobe.”

“With Mr. Uzumaki?” He asked quietly. Sasuke almost flinched at the name but gave a nod at the question. “How did that conversation go?”

After taking several deep breaths, Sasuke looked to the counselor and mumbled, “We argued yesterday after our session but talked it over today. It was normal, like usual. But I thought about the questions…”

“And?”

“I went home. I thought about the questions…and him. I—I did something bad.”

“What happened, Sasuke?”

“I imagined…I fell asleep…he was there,” Sasuke kept grumbling under his breath, barely making any sense for the counselor. However, the manner in which Sasuke kept fisting and unfisting his hands had the counselor realize where Sasuke was heading with his sparring words.

“Did you experience a _dream_ about Naruto?” He whispered. He wanted to tread carefully without alarming Sasuke or causing an outburst. Sasuke shut his eyes tightly, almost as if in shame from having the realizations said out loud. “Why is that bad, Sasuke?”

            As if snapping back to reality, Sasuke sharply turned his head towards the counselor with fire glazing his eyes. “Because he’s my friend! And worst of all, he’s a guy; I told you, I’m not a homo!”

            “If you’re certain that is the case, then couldn’t the dream mean something else?”

            “Like what?!”

            “I can’t answer that for you, Sasuke; I don’t know your conscience as well as you do. I should ask, however, what do you think it is you are missing right now? If you could ask out loud, what are some needs you have that you wish could be fulfilled?”

            There was no immediate answer from Sasuke, but his far away stare gave the counselor the impression that he was at least taking the conversation seriously. Suddenly, Sasuke stood up from the couch the two were seated on and gave a nod towards the counselor. “Thank you, sorry for the late hour. I’ll see myself out.”

            Without another word, Sasuke exited the apartment leaving the counselor baffled at the events that just transpired. Sasuke sped through the village, hopping from rooftop to rooftop to get where he needed to go. His mind was in a clutter but he felt determined that this was the answer, this is what he needed to do to solve his problems. The counselor was right, there was a message within those dreams that now made all of this obvious; now seeing the familiar apartment, Sasuke felt his determination harden. He landed quietly in front of the door, taking some deep breaths before fisting his hand and banging it against the door.

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

            Naruto, who was still wide awake after making it back home from his conversation with Sasuke, was scribbling away on some scrolls before an incessant knock disturbed him. He knew he shouldn’t have been awake so late but he was behind on some things that needed to be done so losing some sleep was just a price he had to pay. As the knocks grew a little impatient, Naruto quickly arose from the bed and made his way towards the door trying to get a feel for who was on the other side (shinobi were naturally skeptical people—one could never be too careful). Feeling the familiar presence, Naruto opened the door with a smile on his face.

            “Hey!”

            “Am I interrupting?”

            Naruto rolled his eyes playfully and grabbed his wrist to pull him in. “You’re supposed to interrupt, Miro, that’s how this works.”

            Miro laughed and jokingly shoved Naruto until he was pushed against the couch. “Then I’m about to be a _huge_ distraction…”

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

            “Who the hell is knocking—Oh! It’s you, Sasuke! What’s wrong?”

            Sakura’s hair was disheveled obviously from just having woken up; her eyes were a tad puffy from her rubbing them and her sleepwear was some mismatched joke that was all bypassed as Sasuke impeded on her personal space, grabbed her by the back of her neck, and kissed her violently on the lips. Surprised couldn’t even begin to describe Sakura’s reaction. Her mind was a blank. Even if this was a scenario she could only dream of, this didn’t mean she knew to react instantly or instinctively. Her lack of response finally had Sasuke pulling back to look at her bewildered eyes.

            “Sakura…”

            “Yes, Sasuke?” she squeaked.

            “Are you going to allow me inside to fuck you?” (Didn’t think he was going to say ‘make love,’ did ya?)

            “A-Are you drunk? Or have another fight with Naruto? This isn’t some joke, is it?”

            “Answer now, Sakura, because I’ll only ask once and I’ll only offer it once.”

            A part of Sakura knew that this wasn’t normal, that something was up, because despite her insane desire for Sasuke, she always knew that they were never going to cross this line. Yet, here Sasuke stood—OUT OF HIS OWN WILL—offering Sakura the one thing she’s always wanted from him. No, not just sex, but the undivided sole attention that only people like Naruto or Itachi were lucky to receive. Despite all of that, Sakura’s wanton side was larger, more heard, and she couldn’t resist grabbing Sasuke by the hand and leading them back up to her room. Whatever the consequences, she’d deal with them after her moment.

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

            Post-coital kissing was one of Naruto’s favorite things to engage in. The two were laying on the couch, Miro straddling on top with his legs on each side of Naruto’s waist and Naruto lying flat on his back with his long legs dangling from the ends. The two were saturated in sweat with their hair sticking to their foreheads and torsos covered in semen. This wasn’t a vicious rut like last time, but it was pretty rough even with Miro taking the lead; he spat demands from Naruto as if he owned him and was in desperate need to possess him. Now all of their energy was just spent kissing in the messiest fashion they knew how. They cared very little for the saliva that spilled out from the corner of their mouths or for the loud noises they made in the process. Naruto had both of his arms folded under his head allowing Miro to caress his skin, mark it with scratches and pinches that forced moans of pleasure to escape from Naruto’s mouth. Miro was hungry, nipping at Naruto’s lips and stabbing his tongue deep within Naruto’s mouth just to taste even a little of that unique flavor that caused spell-binding shivers down Miro’s spine.

            Time was of no concern to either party, but Miro did notice that it wasn’t much later that he felt a second wind coming to him. He could feel that Naruto was semi-hard so it was just a question of what to do next to get the action going. Abruptly, Miro pulled back from Naruto, leaving him baffled and disappointed. “…Miro? What the hell?” Naruto asked in a raspy tone. That voice was almost enough to have Miro cum right there even without provocation.

            He leaned in once again until his lips were right above Naruto’s. “Can I try something I’ve always wanted to do?” He whispered.

            “Hmm? And what’s that?” Loving the teasing proximity, Naruto wanted to tease himself and latched his lips onto Miro’s chin, trailing downward and upward, only to repeat the pattern.

            Miro shuddered at the intense heat the slithered back and forth from his chin to his jaw. “I-I would like to-to taste you.”

            Naruto smirked against Miro’s skin. “I’m very sure you’ve tasted me before, Miro. Numerous of times if I’m correct.”

            “N-No, I didn’t mean there…I meant _lower_. I _want_ to taste you there.”

            Instead of tensing at the request as Miro expected, Naruto hummed in thought, still kissing Miro’s jawline as if no conversation were being held. For a second, Miro assumed Naruto was ignoring his offer until he was suddenly pushed back to the end of the couch. Miro was the one who tensed upon seeing Naruto push himself upward, almost in a seated position, and spread his legs wide open. The whole display almost had Miro hyperventilating! Naruto still wasn’t completely erect but the coloring of his cock was forever mesmerizing for Miro. Then there were his legs; they were two muscled masses, toned and sculpted through years of training but not exaggerated with overtone. They connected beautifully to the two pieces of flesh that many have gossiped of admiring and curved tightly over Naruto’s bones and muscles. The sole focus however, had to have been the puckering hole that continuously winked as if calling for Miro’s name.

            “Well then, have at it,” Naruto dared. As if to tease Miro even more, Naruto spread his legs wider, showing off his natural flexibility.

            Of course Miro was hesitant even if he was the one to admit that this is what he wanted but looking into Naruto’s amusement filled eyes was plenty of encouragement. He leaned down until his face was directly in front of Naruto’s entrance and breathed in until all of his senses were clouded with Naruto. If there’s a question as to why he felt so nervous, especially considering that this was something that he had done multiple times in his life, it was just that Naruto was a different league compared to the others. He was more desirable. More delicious. Miro immediately knew that there would be no competition once he placed his tongue under the entrance to give a long lick upwards. Naruto hummed in approval, quietly egging Miro to proceed. It was all game from there; Miro licked and sucked and nibbled and stabbed his tongue into Naruto’s entrance with the skills he’s honed throughout his short career. It felt exquisite for Naruto and he either hummed or moaned throughout the whole process, gripping the ends of the couch in lust. By this point, his dick was hard and leaking, ready for any attention it could receive, but it was neglected for the lovely teasing given at the end. Miro was enthralled, so into what he was doing, he didn’t notice Naruto’s heavy panting or his quiet grunts, although, he did feel Naruto’s hand skim across his scalp and push his head deeper into the puckering cavern.

            “Harder, Miro, more.” He heard Naruto say above him.

            He gave it as commanded and roughly shoved his tongue as far as it could go and sucked as harshly as he could without breaking the skin. Louder moans broke out from Naruto eliciting some moans from Miro as well. Noticing that Naruto’s entrance was slathered in saliva, Miro was convinced he could take this a step further and easily plunge three fingers in while he quickly latched his mouth onto Naruto’s cock.

            “Oh _FUCK!_ ” Naruto shouted.

            Miro was proud for causing such a sound and plunged his fingers deeply while he sucked just as firmly. He wasn’t sure how he did it, but he somehow hit Naruto’s spot, causing the blonde to curse and pant loudly. It was too much for Miro to absorb silently. Daring to take this even further, Miro arose from his spot and hovered over Naruto with his clear intentions. Naruto was too busy panting with his eyes tightly closed to noticed Miro’s change in positions but he eventually caught on to the lack of sucking going on. Opening his eyes, he saw a flushed Miro over him stroking his own cock with desperation.

            “Can I?” Miro asked—more like pleaded.

            “Can you what?” Naruto skeptically asked.

            “Can I—Can I enter you?”

            Immediately, everything halted. It was as if time had frozen between the two, leaving just blank stares to be shared. The awkward silence caught on and had the two putting space between them. “Miro, I can’t—I’m not ready for that.”

            “Ready…? But you just had three fingers inside of you without any complaint.”

            “Fingers are different. I’ve played with myself with fingers before but not… _that’s_ different.

            “If you’re worried about pain, I promise I’ll take it slow. I’ve done this before, Naruto, I—“

            “It has nothing to do with pain, I just—I’m not ready for that. That’s not for me yet.”

            “What? _Not for you?_ Is this just a macho thing, you just can’t stand to be the _girl_?”

            “Did I say that?! Don’t put words in my mouth, Miro—“

            “You know what, it’s okay, I get it, it’s fine.”

            “Miro, what the fuck is the problem? Why are we suddenly fighting like this was always an issue?”

            Miro froze again, as if in shock, and stared at Naruto with wide eyes. He softly cussed under his breath and harshly raked his hand through his hair with a hard puff of air exiting his lungs. Suddenly looking chagrined, Miro slowly moved towards Naruto until he was sitting close to him on the couch.

            “I’m sorry. Things have just been…crazy with the clients. I just…got carried away is all. I’m really sorry, it won’t happen again,” he said sadly.

            Naruto placed his hand onto Miro’s lap and drew circles with his thumb on the knee cap. “It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize. I keep forgetting that I’m not the only one who’s tired with work and other shit. I should have realized that you’re probably more stressed than I am at times.”

            Miro shook his head. “No, I should have left my problems at the door; you did help me forget and relax but…”

            “How about you hop in the shower and sleep over? Catch up on some sleep I’m sure you’ve missed.”

            “You’re not going to join me?” Miro asked with a pout.

            With a small smile, Naruto shook his head. “While you’re showering, I’ll just finish up some drafts I was working on. I’ll shower later and then we can both sleep in.”

            Miro wanted to argue but saw that Naruto was already moving to put on his boxers. With a sad sigh, he headed towards the bathroom, quietly shut the door, and slid down until he was seated on the floor. Resting his head upon his arms, he quietly whispered into the air, _Forgive me, for I have failed_ …

 


	10. Unseen and In the Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> I am on a role! Now I probably jinxed it, but oh well. Great news, I just uploaded the first chapter to E.V.E., my own original story (http:// w .tt / 1QcT6yF). I’m excited about this one ^_^  
> BTW, this chapter is super dialogue-y…  
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter Nine:

 

            She hadn’t meant to run as late as she did but the merchant giving her a discount for two large bento boxes and her incessantly thanking him took a bit more time than she anticipated. Luckily, Tsunade didn’t have any big meetings to worry about so it wasn’t like Shizune needed to kill herself to get to the office either. But perhaps she should double check the calendar next time since it appears she was very wrong…She burst through Tsunade’s office, expecting to see the older woman grumbling over paperwork, but instead was greeted with Tsunade and the Kazakage, Gaara.

            “Kazakage-sama! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were stopping by the Leaf Village—“

            Gaara stood up from his seat and bowed as if Shizune were the important guest. Shizune blushed, not being too familiarized with such gentlemanly manners. “Actually, forgive me, Shizune-san. I came here unexpectantly.”

            “The brat here says he’s got some news,” Tsunade added. She was frowning, probably at the fact that her lunch time was now impeded upon.

            “Yes, I do, but if you want to eat first, please, don’t mind me.”

            “Would you like something to eat or drink, Kazekage-sama?” Shizune asked.

            “No thank you, I’m quite fine.”

            “Alright then, so tell me, what brings you here?” Shizune placed one of the bento boxes on Tsunade’s desk and watched as the woman tore into the wrapping as if she were not having an important political meeting at the moment.

            Gaara nodded, retaking his seat on the couch and folding his hands over his crossed legs. “Yes well, I originally wanted to send notice of my appearance—just as a casual visit—but before I could send the letter out, I received one myself. It was from the Mizukage with some bad news in regards to their jinchūriki.”

            Tsunade had a bite of a rice ball in her mouth but seeing Gaara’s expression turn serious, she quickly swallowed it and wiped her mouth. “Don’t tell me…”

            “Yes, I’m afraid their jinchūriki has been poisoned. Like I was.”

            Tsunade frowned, no longer caring about her food. “Why didn’t that idiot send me the letter? Why to you?” Both Tsunade and Shizune noticed Gaara suddenly finding huge interest in the carpet. “Oh my God,” Tsunade groaned. “Could she be any more desperate? She’s twice your age!”

            “I—“ Gaara was then blushing, feeling a sense of shame that he couldn’t control the burning heat on his cheeks. “Look, she might have thought I was the best candidate to tell since I am part of the protection committee for the jinchūriki.”

            “Yes, as opposed to, you know, the veteran doctor…?”

            “Regardless of _her_ intentions, the main concern is that this is the second poisoning. We have to alert the other Kages immediately and Naruto must be placed under protection.”

            “Hold on now, let’s not jump at the first sign of trouble. If we immediately start assigning protection, we won’t be entirely focused on where our eyes should be looking and that’s _who’s_ poisoning everyone?”

            “Unfortunately, I haven’t the faintest clue. Everyone and everything was thoroughly investigated after my poisoning and nothing raised a red flag. Mizukage-sama will be doing the same and letting us know of her results. So unless there’s some connection, we don’t have a lead to go on.”

            “What I find strange is the aim of these attacks. What’s the point of poisoning the jinchūriki if they don’t die?”

            “I’m not sure if that is the case, at least I can only assume. With me, I managed to absorb and extract the poison because of my sand abilities, however, the same cannot be said for the three-tail jinchūriki. The dosage was much higher and the after effects were quite…severe. My assumption is that these assailant(s) aren’t entirely sure of what it is they are doing.”

            “What were the effects on the host…Jimmen was his name?”

            “Yes. He suffered internal burns, nerve damage, and also some possible irreparable damage to some of his chakra channels. Mizukage-sama’s letter specified that if Jimmen cannot heal properly, they might have to resort to extraction.”

            “That’s not good. _Shit_ ,” she snarled as she lightly hit her desk, rattling all of the contents on its surface. “Since she did send you the letter, what were you thinking of doing?”

            “As I said, my original purpose of stopping by was for a casual visit; more of hanging out with Naruto. However, since circumstances have changed, I think it would be wiser to have you send Naruto over there.”

            At that, Tsunade quirked an eye brow. “Weren’t you just worrying about the kid’s safety? Now you want to send him on a mission?”

            “It is very easy to worry about him,” Gaara replied fondly, surprising Tsunade with his softened expression. “But I assume you wouldn’t send him alone on this mission unlike when he came to Suna. I would go myself but I don’t think it would be wise for a Kage to make so much movement. Whoever is responsible for the poisoning might be watching for _our_ decisions.”

            “Naruto may not be a Kage but he’s still a big player; they could be watching for his movements too.”

            “Yes, but out of all of the shinobis that could be sent in his place, Naruto is still the best choice. Whether it’s the luck of the devil or some other explanation, Naruto always seems capable of coming out the victor.”

            Tsunade smirked evilly. “My, my, you speak so fondly of the kid. Are you sure you’re objective?”

            Gaara lightly blushed again and cleared his throat as a means to hopefully cover-up his sudden bashfulness. “I just consider him a very close friend. My best friend.”

            “Right, well, I’m going to have to catch him up to speed and assign a couple of bodyguards as protection.”

            “Since I am here, I could make it easier for you and tell him myself?”

            “If you want,” Tsunade said with a wave of her hand. “I know you did want to hang out with him.”

            Gaara stood from his seat and bowed at Tsunade as a means of leave. “Then I thank you for your time and hospitality. I shall be leaving the village once I give word to Naruto. If there is any more need of assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach me.”

            Tsunade stood from behind her desk as well and slightly bowed. “I should be thanking you instead for the information. Please take care and be _very_ careful.”

            “I will.”

            Both Shizune and Gaara bowed at each other before he turned to leave the office, following the long hallway to exit the building. Now, he had to find Naruto.

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

 

            The alarm clock first went off at the 6am mark but snoozed after five minutes of ringing. Now, it was ringing every five minutes without break, begging to be shut off. Still, Sakura could not find the drive to move from her bed and shut it off. She was frozen, paralyzed. It was as if nothing could make sense to her anymore. The bed was empty, side from her own nude form that was covered in dried sweat and…semen. It was disgusting and should have been perfect motivation to get up and shower, yet she still remained unmoving, unblinking. Every time she felt a spark, an urge to get up and move, she was bombarded with flashbacks of last night. Whatever that was, that was…she couldn’t even put it into words. It wasn’t love-making but it certainly wasn’t some simple rut either. Sasuke acted as if he were going to die, passionately possessing her body, clutching it and bruising it with fervor. He wasn’t vocal, but there were some gasps and growls, noises that curled Sakura’s stomach and had her falling into ecstasy over and over again. It had to have been a dream because it was much too surreal to process. Despite Sasuke not being there when she woke up, she was happy enough with the memories alone.

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

 

            Naruto was in a similar position, although not filled with blissful memories unfortunately. As he had expected, Miro wasn’t there when he woke up, leaving him to reminisce about their argument last night. The whole situation was awkward and it made Naruto feel immensely guilty. Since discovering sex, he always imagined doing a whole variety of things, things that not too many people could get away with doing, and the best part of it was that he did. And enjoyed it! Ero-senin—as sick and/or crazy as it sounds—was his role model. The man may have just been into women, but his sexual ideas were beyond fascinating, something that Naruto wished he appreciated more when he was younger and travelling with the old man. He would remember travelling with Jiraiya and going into brothels; the idea wasn’t to just to fuck, but to _watch_. Jiraiya made Naruto pay attention to how the workers spoke, their language and rhythm, the clients, the atmosphere…

            Obviously it wasn’t all pink and roses. Many times, Naruto concluded that all he was witnessing was a bunch of pathetic drunks trying to get off, but then Jiraiya would ask him questions. _If all they need is an itch scratched, why come here? Why the need for another’s flesh? Why here? Why? Why? Why? Why?_ That was a common beginning to many of Ero-senin’s questions. It helped though. Naruto learned a lot about people, about why they resorted to certain things more than others. It was how he succumb to his first male-sexual experience. It was painful, sure, but it was memorable. It felt amazing and it made Naruto desire it again, but after that first time, he couldn’t find another guy to fulfill that position. It wasn’t an offense against Miro, but Naruto couldn’t see himself submitting to him, giving up that much control on a gamble that it _might_ be good.

            “ _That’s why you aren’t in the wrong,_ ” Kurama said quietly.

            “ _I offended him. Miro is still a man with pride; by telling him no, I’ve offended that very thing._ ”

            “ _You owe nothing to him. The physical chemistry is great, but just because Miro is given control—at times—doesn’t mean he was in control. At worst, Miro is an omega-type partner and crossed the line when he asked for something that made you uncomfortable._ ”

            “ _Miro is an omega? What does that make me?_ ”

            Kurama internally rolled his eyes. Of course the idiot picked that up as the main part of the conversation. “ _Hard to tell. You have alpha traits that come out on numerous occasions but you also show times of taking a back seat to others, giving off a beta-type vibe._ ”

            “ _Really? Cool, I guess but how does that relate to Miro?_ ”

            Kurama growled at Naruto’s obliviousness. “ _If he’s an omega and you’re an alpha, then that means when Miro tried to take complete control of a situation without your consent, he crossed a line. In nature, it is not allowed for someone of omega status or similar to be given such privileges._ ”

            “ _O…kay? Except we’re humans, Kurama. We don’t follow that kind of ranking system._ ”

            “ _Humans or not, the similarities exist._ ” Just as Naruto was about to protest, Kurama huffed out in irritation, mumbling something under his breath. “ _Speaking of ‘alphas’, that favorite human of yours is near your entrance._ ”

            “ _Favorite human? Y-You mean Sasuke?_ ”

            Kurama groaned in protest. “ _And you don’t even deny it! How low you have fallen._ ”

            “ _Shut up!_ ”

            Naruto hopped out of his bed and dressed himself in whatever he could get his hands on. He didn’t care that Sasuke hadn’t even knocked on the door yet, he eagerly opened the door with a smile already on his face. His smile grew wider upon seeing Kurama’s tale confirmed; Sasuke, standing there with a fist in midair, about to knock on the door. He was a little taken aback when he saw Naruto fling the door open before he could even knock.

            “Dobe.”

            “Teme. What’s up?”

            “Thought I’d ask if you wanted to spar. It’s been a while.”

            “Hell yeah! Just give me a minute!”

            Naruto hadn’t given him a chance to reply as he slammed the door shut and raced around his apartment to quickly freshen up. He brushed his teeth, his hair, changed into better training gear, and grabbed some small snack in the fridge that could hopefully hold him over until after they were done. Thankfully, Kurama hadn’t bitched at him about acting like some school girl getting ready for a date. Although, he could faintly hear the demon grumbling inside of his head, saying something about odors and what not. Naruto hadn’t a clue of what he was talking about so he let the matter drop.

            The two headed out in a casual manner to their training ground, their favorite and only place to train. Not much conversation was held between them, which was fine—on both ends—since it helped build up the suspense of what was to come. They didn’t start out with big attacks either. It was slow, with regular punches and kicks that slowly escalated into flips and sharp twists. Chakra was finally implemented when Naruto had no choice but to substitute himself with a clone to avoid being trapped; Sasuke hated the clones. Fireballs and Rasengans were thrown back and forth, destroying the terrain around them. It was more liberating than either one of them could remember. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they both collapsed onto the grass, panting like two dehydrated dogs under the summer heat.

            “I….totally won….Teme.”

            “Fuck….you.”

            _I wish_. Since he couldn’t respond with that—even though the retort was on the tip of his tongue—he remained quiet. Instead, he relished in the burning he felt in his throat every time he sucked air in and thought about how amazing he now felt after sparring with Sasuke. Another set of minutes passed by before they both rose from the ground, trembling from exertion. Every muscle and bone ached with movement, but it wasn’t like Kurama wouldn’t help mend it by tomorrow morning, so he was fine. He looked at Sasuke and noted that he too was struggling to sit up right.

            “Heh, did I mess you up?”

            “No, as if you could, Dobe. Wanted to say something earlier but you fought like you did at twelve.”

            “You’re a horrible liar, Uchiha-bastard. I barely even tried; I could kick your ass if I wanted to.”

            Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Then try it.”

            Naruto accepted the challenge and slowly got up despite his wiggling legs. He ignored the asshole’s scoff and trudged forward, smirking the whole while. He was closing in on Sasuke when suddenly, his knees locked, causing him to trip face first. Naruto expected to have a handful of dirt in his mouth except…it didn’t happen. When he opened his eyes (that he didn’t even know he closed) he saw that he was sort of hovering over the ground…on a hammock of sand.

            “Even as a foreigner of this land, I knew to check this training ground for your presence.”

            “Gaara!”

            Naruto hopped off the sand, forgetting about his fatigue, and crushed Gaara in his arms for a hug. It hadn’t been that long since the two parted but Naruto missed him regardless.

            “Yes…Naruto, I’ve missed you too. Now…I can’t quite breathe.”

            “Ah, sorry.” He released him and gave Gaara a huge smile. “So, what brings you here?”

            “Right, I’m sorry for interrupting,” he started and then looked to Sasuke, nodding in his direction to acknowledge his presence. “Sasuke-san.”

            “Hn.” Was the only reply. Sasuke did not look too pleased in seeing Gaara.

            “But I need to talk to you.”

            “Sure, what’s up?”

            Gaara looked to Sasuke and then again at Naruto, slightly frowning when his intentions weren’t clear. “I need to discuss about that _insurance_ policy we talked about last time…”

            Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, looking at Gaara with the most perplexed expression, until the memory finally hit. His face turned a scarlet red, almost making Sasuke believe that something was wrong. “O-Oh! Uh…sure! S-Sasuke-Teme, do you…mind?” Trying to hint for the Uchiha to leave them alone for a bit.

            Sasuke was definitely _not_ happy. He finally got what he wanted only to have it rudely interrupted and then be kicked aside? However, Naruto’s eyes were pleading with him, begging him to move away so they could have their private conversation. Those fucking eyes were glowing again and they were much too convincing to argue with at the moment. Reluctantly, Sasuke moved away, murmuring that he was going to wash up at the lake, which wasn’t too far so maybe he could catch an idea of what was going on. Luck didn’t seem to be on his side, though, when Gaara shielded the two of them with sand the moment Sasuke reached the watery bank. _That fucking bastard!_

            “Um, Gaara? What are you doing?”

            “Taking precautions. Forgive me but Sasuke-san is a Sharigan user and I can’t take the chance that he’d use it to read our lips.”

            “Oh, yeah good point I guess, but Sasuke-Teme wouldn’t do that.”

            “Still, I’d feel better if I kept my guard up. Now, on to business; we don’t have a lot of time.”

            “Yeah, about that, y-you came all the way over here to talk about _that_? I mean, I know I offered, but—“

            “Forgive me, Naruto, but I’m not really talking about having sex with you.”

            “No?”

            “No. I should apologize but I needed some way to talk to you. It seems that another tailed beast has been attacked by the same poison that harmed me.”

            “ _What_?! Who?”

            “Jimmen, the host of Isobu.”

            “When did this happen?”

            “Just the other day; the Mizukage sent word to me and I informed her that I’d be seeking assistance at the Leaf Village since I was originally heading over here for a visit. Lady Tsunade and I spoke about sending you over there to investigate.”

            “Just tell me when and I’ll get going.”

            “As I figured. She wants to send you with protection, however, since we both worry that whoever is behind this may be trying to target you as well.”

            “Ah, that’s a pain in the ass—I don’t need protection! I can handle it.”

            Instead of responding, Gaara quietly looked at Naruto with an eerie expression. Naruto was going to question what the look as about but then he noticed the small bits of sand falling off of Gaara’s face and his eyes turning yellow.

            “ **Kurama** ,” said a voice using Gaara’s lips. Naruto recognized that voice. “ **Watch your human. Whoever is behind this wants to inflict a lot of pain on them**.”

            Naruto’s body responded immediately, resulting in his own demonic features to come out; his blood red eyes, sharp claws and fangs, and darkened whisker marks. “ **They will not touch Naruto and I’ll personally kill whoever is behind this**.”

            Gaara’s face reverted to his usual stoniness and released the little sand fort around them. Kurama’s features instantly disappeared, leaving the two of them to look at each other with determined expressions. “I must return unfortunately. You have a mission to do.”

            “Rain check? If things quiet down, maybe I’ll stop by over there to make it easier.”

            “Yes, I’d quite like that. Perhaps we can indulge in some more of that drink that we had last time…and renegotiate the terms of that insurance policy.”

            Naruto’s face turned red again. “Would you stop teasing me, you jerk?”

            Gaara wasn’t a laugher, so he just smiled as a quiet means of apology. He bid his goodbyes one last time before turning away and walking back where he had come from. Naruto was already missing him, as childish as that sounded.

            “So what the hell was that about?”

            Naruto flinched, not expecting Sasuke to have appeared right next to him as quickly and as silently as he did. “Teme! Don’t scare me like that!”

            “Like that’s my fault you’re such a chicken. So, what was that?”

            “It’s about my mission last time, so I can’t really say…”

            This deepened Sasuke’s frown. He couldn’t force Naruto to tell him and it wasn’t like Naruto was doing on purpose since it was regarding shinobi work, but it just sucked that he couldn’t be told anything. The old Naruto would have blabbed anyway, uncaring if Sasuke was allowed to know or not. Even after today, when it seemed they were making leaps and bounds in getting back to their original rhythm, there was still distance between them that Sasuke couldn’t seem to narrow. There were still problems in the way.

            “Fine, let’s just go eat.”

            “Yeah! Ramen time!”

            Unfortunately, as the two collected their belongings, an ANBU member appeared before them. “Uzumaki-san, Uchiha-san; Lady Tsunade has asked for your presence.”

            “For both of us?” Naruto asked.

            “Yes.”

            The ANBU shinobi then disappeared, leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone once again. “We better get going then, Dobe.”

            “Oi! Ugly Teme!” Naruto shouted as he followed right behind Sasuke towards the Hokage’s office.


	11. Too Much Awkward

Chapter Ten:

 

            “It’s about time,” Tsunade grumbled once Naruto and Sasuke walked into her office. “Took you long enough.”

            “What? We got here quick enough!” Naruto argued.

            “Watcha say, Brat?” Just as Tsunade was ready to launch a thick book at Naruto’s head, the office door opened again. This time, it was Sakura who came waltzing in. “Ah, you’re all here.”

            Within seconds, the air in the office was thick with some kind of awkwardness and tension. Both Sakura and Sasuke stiffened while Naruto suddenly seemed quiet and distant. “Sorry I’m late.”

            “No worries; we were just about to begin,” Tsunade said with a wave of her hand. “So, let’s get to the point; I’m assigning the three of you on a mission together to Kirigakure. Since the Brat has been working on this assignment longer than you two have, I’ll have him explain the main points.”

            Naruto was a little surprised at the spotlight now being shun on him since he wasn’t expecting Sasuke or Sakura to be involved in this investigation. With everyone in the room staring at him, he had no choice now. “Uh…,” he stammered nervously. He never had to speak in front of his friends like this. Clearing his throat, he started again. “Yeah, so about a month ago, Gaara fell ill with a high fever and severe pain in…well, everywhere. They did a bunch of tests on him and found out he was poisoned through food. So he told Baa-chan who sent me to go take a look and be a guinea pig.”

            “Meaning, to keep everything discreet, Naruto pretended to take a ‘vacation’ over to Suna but forgot to get medical clearance as obligated by all shinobi who travel outside of their home village,” Tsunade interjected.

            Sakura gasped, finally understanding what the situation was. “So he had to be ‘cleared’ over there but it was actually Gaara-sama’s samples!” She was smiling at the revelation, happy to know that the mystery was solved. Naruto wasn’t sick, exactly as he had claimed!

            “Precisely. The files were to be safely delivered to me for examination that way _no one_ would find out about it.”

            Sakura blushed while Sasuke looked down at the floor, both feeling a wave of shame. They both knew that Tsunade knew about their snooping into the confidential files.

            “Yeah so,” Naruto said in changing the subject, brining everyone’s attention back to him. “Now the problem is a jinchūriki that lives in Kirigakure has now been poisoned too. It’s the three-tail beast and his container Shai Jimmen.”

            “I thought poisons and drugs don’t affect a jinchūriki’s body?” Sasuke finally spoke.

            Naruto shook his head. “They don’t or they’re not supposed to. Kurama would filter the shit out of any crap that enters my body but with this new poison…I don’t know.”

            “This poison was man-made. Whoever made it has made their intention clear on one thing—they want the jinchūriki dead,” Tsunade said gravely, trying to emphasize her message.

            Sakura frowned, confused about that one fact. “But Gaara-sama survived, right? And it sounds like Shai-sama has as well, so if this person wanted the jinchūriki dead then why are they still alive? The ones he’s poisoned so far, at least.”

            “We still aren’t sure; since this person only managed to poison two of the jinchūriki, we can’t tell if it’s a fluke or intentional but based off of the evidence so far, the Kazakage brat was smart enough to use his sand abilities to clump the poison before it could enter his blood stream and cut it out of him so there was little damage there. I can’t say the same for Shai; the dosage seems to have been higher and he reacted too late so it affected him harder and left him in critical condition. The medical staff have managed to keep him stable but they don’t know for how long.”

            “What is our mission, Hokage-sama?” Sasuke asked.

            “I’m sending the brat here to be head of the investigation and try and get a lead on this mystery person or group. However, since Naruto is a jinchūriki himself, he is in as much danger as Shai, the Kazakage brat, and the others, so I will be assigning protection—that’s where you come in,” pointing to Sasuke. “Finally, I want more information on Shai’s condition and to see if maybe you can make a difference with actually physically being there, Sakura. You will be going as a medical nin assigned to treat Shai. Are you three understanding of your assignments? Any questions?”

            All three shook their heads.

            “Great. Whenever you’re packed, get ready to go.”

 

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~ 

 

            The exit from the Hokage’s office wasn’t an easy one; for some reason, the air around the three shinobi of the former team 7 was still thick with tension. Naruto was walking on Sasuke’s right but the distance between the two of them versus the distance between Sasuke and Sakura was far greater. Sasuke’s eyes never left him; he watched Naruto walk in silence and saw that he looked at nothing except at the path ahead of him. _Why the hell was the Dobe being so quiet all of a sudden?_ Maybe these poisonings were effecting him more than he let on. Considering that he’s been on this mission for a while now with no one to talk to about it, it’s probably both a stress reliever to finally have it out in the open but a worrisome issue to still think about. Sasuke’s main issue, however, wasn’t Naruto’s behavior…but Sakura’s. She was walking _too_ close to him, trying to match his speed step for step. Great, now this was going to be a hassle and since they hadn’t spoken since the previous night, this was sending all of the wrong messages.

            Naruto on the other hand was uncomfortable. A part of him was glad that his former teammates could join him on this mission, but he knew that didn’t mean things were going to be the same like when they were kids. They were adults now with mature personalities and new perspectives. Perspective change number one, Sasuke wasn’t calling Sakura annoying and was _walking_ next to her! They’ve clearly worked out all of their childish issues and now were the chummiest of friends, so where did that leave him? This mission was supposed to be his thing, his little secret to escape this bullshit that he was witnessing before him, but now they were in on it and he had nowhere to run. He had to endure.

            He heaved a heavy sigh, causing both Sakura and Sasuke to look at him. “Ah, I’m going this way. Is 10 minutes okay or do you need more time before we meet up?”

            Sasuke shook his head but Sakura didn’t look so agreeing. “Maybe five more minutes?”

            What was Naruto going to say? He nodded and reiterated that they were to meet at the front gate in 15 minutes before heading in the opposite direction. This left Sakura and Sasuke alone. Sasuke was about to walk away himself when Sakura grabbed a hold of his arm.

            “Sasuke? Can I talk to you real quick?” Her voice sounded shaky, like she wanted to be confident but it couldn’t cooperate with her wishes.

            Sasuke sighed, turning to look at Sakura straight in the eyes. “Look, what happened last night—“

            “Yeah that’s what I wanted to talk about. Look Sasuke, I don’t know what happened or if you ever want to tell me the reason, but I promise I won’t ever mention it unless you want to. I don’t want this to be awkward—more awkward—so let’s just focus on the mission, please?”

            That…was a surprise. Sasuke hadn’t expected this. He imagined tears, perhaps some raised voices, some lying (from his end if needed), but none of that came. Sakura was calm, cool, and so _mature_ about the whole situation that it threw him for a loop. He assumed he was going to have to explain himself and really, how does a guy explain that he had a serious itch that needed scratching without sounding like a complete ass? Or worse, without resulting in Naruto hunting him down in biju-mode wanting to murder him?

            “Y-Yeah,” he agreed.

            Sakura smiled, patting Sasuke on the arm before turning herself to move towards her apartment. “Great, I’m glad we cleared that up. I just wanted the extra time for that. I’ll see you in ten.” She waved her goodbyes and raced away,

            _What the hell just happened?_ Sasuke wondered.

            Meanwhile, Naruto made it to his apartment only to bump into his own potential problem; Miro. Leaning against his door was Miro, fiddling with his fingers. Hearing Naruto’s heavy landing, he turned but didn’t display his usual radiant smile.  “Hey,” he said.

            “Hey,” was Naruto’s reply. He wished he could have said something better, but nothing came to mind for some reason. Although he was looking at Miro without turning away, he felt awkward, like it was much too soon to act casual after last night.

            After a couple seconds of silence, Miro spoke up. “Do you have some time?”

            “…Actually, Baa-chan just gave me a mission.”

            “It’ll be quick! Just a couple minutes!”

            Naruto quietly sighed, figuring he had nothing else to lose. He remembered what Kurama had told him that morning about the whole situation not being his fault since he was alpha material, but that didn’t make any of this any less awkward. With a nod, Naruto unlocked his door and allowed Miro to step ahead of him into the apartment. It was silent between them even after Naruto tossed his keys on his little side table by the front door. He stood there, waiting for Miro to say something, but the guy just stood there, fiddling with his fingers again. _Is he related to Hinata?_

            “So….?” He pushed, hoping Miro would hurry up. He did have a mission to get to after all.

            “R-Right! Sorry. Um, look, Naruto, I-I’m really sorry. I am. I said it was because of the clients, but I just…I don’t know, I just _really_ wanted to do it,” he finished with a fierce blush.

            “Miro, I said it was okay, really—“

            “I know, but now things are…different and tense between us. I don’t like that. I didn’t mean to ruin it.”

            “It’s not ruined, I promise,” Naruto assured. He flexed his index finger, allowing Miro to step forward into his personal space. Warily, he did until Naruto pulled him forward by the collar of his shirt. Their faces were centimeters apart with the both of them breathing hot air in each other’s faces. “I forgive you but _don’t_ let it happen again. We’re fuck-buddies, Miro, and I don’t want that to be crossed.”

            Miro reigned in his disappointment but he was still elated that Naruto wanted something with him. He nodded non-stop, agreeing with whatever else Naruto was saying while also sneaking his hands towards Naruto’s waist to fiddle with the strings tied there. He could see Naruto’s eyes widen when Miro successfully plunged his hand inside and grabbed a hold of his member. A hiss escaped through Naruto’s lips. He was reminded how he grew slightly hard after sparring with Sasuke but then neglected the poor thing due to being interrupted by Gaara and then by the recent meeting in Baa-chan’s office.

            “M-Miro, I told you— _hah_ —I had a mission; I don’t have time.”

            “Please, Naruto? Please, I need _it_!”

            Miro panted harder against Naruto’s face but then took the liberty of pressing even closer and kissing him. Their lips melded harshly against each other but with enough passion for Naruto to suddenly lift Miro off the ground and slam him against the closest wall. However, he had to pull away causing Miro to mewl in want. “Hold on,” Naruto demanded. He then summoned a shadow clone that appeared behind him. “Do me a favor and start packing my things for the mission.”

            The clone pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest. “Man, why do you get to have all of the fun?”

            “Would you just hurry up and do it!” The clone huffed and could be heard walking away towards the bedroom where he began gathering the essentials. For Naruto, he was already dipping his two fingers into Miro with a roughness that emphasized his lack of time. “This isn’t going to be the best.”

            Miro, who was already a moaning mess, shook his head when he finally registered Naruto’s words. “No, No, I don’t care! Just fuck me, please!”

            Naruto grunted in approval and removed his fingers, hoping Miro was tolerant enough to take him all in even though he wasn’t completely prepared. He grabbed a hold of his cock (thanks to the fact that he kicked off his pants by the door after Miro untied them) and lined it with Miro’s entrance. The penetration was slow, but Naruto seriously didn’t want to hurt him even though he was moaning and begging for speed. They weren’t even using lube, aside from saliva. When he was finally hilted, he paused, taking a moment to breathe and enjoy the searing heat around his cock. “ _Fuck, Miro_ ,” he groaned.

            “M-Move…,” Miro weakly asked.

            Nothing more was needed to be said. Naruto immediately pumped his hips and allowed the pleasure to guide his movements. Everything was erratic and nothing but Miro’s shouts and the sound of skin slapping against each other could be heard. Naruto’s nostrils flared once the heady smell of sex kicked in, turning him on even more. The smell of sweat reminded him of long sparring session he had to Sasuke and of the Teme’s body movements. The way he smirked every time he did something to one-up Naruto and how constantly had to run his hand through his hair to keep it from falling forward and blinding him. The only time they touched each other was when they were trading punches and kicks, but the skin contact was there and that made Naruto masochistic enough to desire it all the more. His own skin tingled from every contact, going straight to his groin.

            Miro screamed once Naruto stabbed at his prostrate, bringing Naruto out of his daze. Right, he shouldn’t be thinking of Sasuke at a moment like this. That wasn’t right. That was wrong for a best friend to do. But his mind couldn’t help it and he kept imagining Sasuke’s sweaty skin, his damp hair, his blazing eyes, and his stubborn personality, painting an image so lewd that Naruto nearly came at that second. To bring focus back to the present, Naruto wrapped on hand on Miro’s hip while the other one travelled upward towards his neck. Without word, Naruto pressed on Miro’s neck, depriving him of his much needed oxygen while increasing the speed of his hips.

            Miro’s eyes rolled to the back his head while his mouth opened to a silent scream. He didn’t care for the bone-bruising grip on his hip or the nail marks on his neck, he just wanted to come. He never felt as amazing as he did now with Naruto fucking him within an inch of his life. It didn’t take long after that for his orgasm to hit him and for his semen to splatter everywhere, mainly on Naruto’s shirt. Naruto too came with a growl, stilling his hip and shuddering with violence. The action had his knees feeling much too weak to continue holding the both of them up so he allowed them to slide down the wall and onto the floor. They were panting harshly, catching their breath. Naruto knew that his clone had finished packing a while ago so he was set to go, but he felt so comfortable that he didn’t want to move.

            “I gotta go,” he murmured with little energy.

            “How long are you gone?”

            Naruto hoped that Miro could see or feel his shrug. “Not sure. It’s a play-by-ear kind of mission.”

            “Then let me know so I can welcome you back.” They both chuckled and reluctantly got up from the floor. Naruto fetched his pants by the front door and swiftly put them back on. He also noticed a large backpack that must have been left there by the clone. He went to pick it up but was stopped when he felt two arms wrap around him. “Be safe.”

            “Of course! No one can harm Naruto Uzumaki!” He said it in a playful manner like he would had anyone else said that, but he noticed Miro not loosening his grip. “What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing! Just…hate having to rush this. It’s annoying having to feel awesome and then lonely back to back.”

            Naruto hummed, reached for his backpack and then pecked Miro on the lips. Well, it started off as a peck but Miro leaned in to gain more access. They tasted each other’s mouths until Naruto had to pull away. “I promise I’ll get you as soon as I’m back,” he said with a smile. But Miro was still worried about something since he suddenly seemed nervous and slightly closed off. Naruto wanted to ask but after glancing at the clock that he had perched on his living room wall, he noticed he honestly had no time. _Shit, I’m late!_ “I gotta go, Miro.”

            “Okay, be careful,” he wished again.

            “I will. If you want, you can relax here and just lock up when you’re ready to leave. I have some ramen cups in the pantry if you want to snack too.” He said it with a smile, hoping Miro caught the joke. Miro hated ramen, particularly the store bought kind, but he hoped the gesture was enough to cheer him up.

            Miro strained a smile and waved his final good bye once Naruto rushed out the door.

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

 

            Sasuke and Sakura were a perfect mixture of annoyed and worried although it was hard to tell who was feeling which. Here they were, standing by the front gate as designated with no Naruto in sight. In fact, he was ten minutes late! They wondered if Naruto was doing this as some kind of prank and wanted to see if they’d wait like the many times they’ve waited for Kakashi. Numerous times, Sakura threatened to go look for him and beat him to the ground while Sasuke questioned if the idiot stopped by the ramen place to eat a bowl. Just as they were about to go and investigate, they could see Naruto running towards them from a distance. It was less than a minute before Naruto was finally in front of them, panting as if he just raced around the village walls to get there.

            Before any greetings could be exchanged, Sakura punched Naruto on the shoulder. “Where the hell were you?!”

            “Sorry!! I…was helping an old lady with her groceries across the street?”

            Neither Sakura nor Sasuke were amused. “You have some fucking nerve saying that kind of line! You would have murdered Kaka-sensei if he said that!” Sakura shouted.

            Sakura’s anger was somehow amusing to Naruto and he laughed at the justified hostility. “Sorry, but I really was distracted by helping someone out.” He technically wasn’t lying. He just didn’t mention how he was helped out as well.

            “Yeah, I’ll bet,” Sasuke said. He wasn’t stupid or blind. He could even smell the _stench_ radiating off of him! Naruto looked like a disaster with his hair spiking up in all sorts of directions, his clothes were wrinkled, and his face was flushed and pink! Was he…seriously doing _that_ before coming here? Who was Naruto involved with enough to go through such lengths?

            “Ew, Naruto, what the hell is that on your shirt?!” Sakura pointed out. Sure enough, there were stains lined up everywhere on Naruto’s mid to lower half of his shirt.

            It surprised Sakura (not so much Sasuke due to his suspicions) to see Naruto blush like a tomato and pull a great distance away from both of them. “Can we just go already? C’mon, we’re late as it is!”

            “That’s your fault!”

            They simultaneously turned to leave passed the gates, each worrying about their own problem. Sakura, although felt a lot better after talking with Sasuke, was worried that their friendship was still on thin ice. Naruto worried about both his sexual escapades and his feelings towards Sasuke being discovered, while Sasuke, despite not wanting to admit it, worried about Naruto’s secrets. Now, he had another problem to worry about; seeing Naruto in his disheveled state brought on another itch that needed to be scratched….


	12. Flattering to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> Hey guys, I know it’s been a while; for those who read my post from my other story, then you already know that I haven’t posted in a while because I drove from NJ to Michigan and due to some crazy circumstances, still have not managed to completely settle down. I’m also currently looking for a job and a nightly graduate school so I’m a little set back with stuff. However, I couldn’t completely forget these stories and forced myself to do some focusing. I hope you guys understand and for those that leave reviews, you honestly have no idea how much it means to me. Thank you so much and I hope you understand. I’ll be working hard to keep producing more chapters. Also, check at the end of this chapter for notes because this CH includes references and the answer to them is in the bottom (LMFAO). IDK, I need help…help me. Thanks guys and thanks for reading, take care!  
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter **Eleven:**

 

             No one was more thankful than Naruto when the team of three resumed to their normal flow of things once the awkwardness wore down. Actually, he was more thankful for his stomach when it growled loudly, Sasuke calling him a dobe, and Sakura jumping in cause it was funnier that way. It was the perfect way to crack the ice and have the three of them talking like there were no issues to begin with. And if Naruto could be silently greedy, he was also thankful for the fact that Sasuke and Sakura were not draped all over each other like they were before they left for the mission. Sure, they were walking side by side, but the atmosphere was much more lax and the distance between them was at a comfortable state. The only downside to whole situation was that Naruto hadn’t had time to bath or at least properly clean up since his ‘moment’ with Miro; he felt sticky, sweaty, and smelly and not in the good way—from training.

            “Neh, Sakura-chan, do you know if there are any inns close by? I kinda want to take a minute to wash up.”

            “Actually, I was just about to suggest we make a stop for the night. There should be an inn a little less than a mile from here.”

            Receiving two nods from the guys, Sakura nodded in acknowledgement as well and continued forward. Just as she said, it wasn’t long before the three members of Team 7 saw an inn. The place looked pretty decent and even from where they were standing, they could tell that it had its own private bath house for residents to use, which for both Naruto and Sakura at the moment, that was a God send. Naruto couldn’t even contain his excitement and ran ahead of the other two to reach the front entrance before them. He laughed even as he heard Sakura and Sasuke yell behind him of his childish stupidity, although, he did wait for them so at least they could all enter at the same time. Once inside, Naruto noted the natural coziness of the lobby; it reminded him of his travels with Jiraiya. Many of the hotels and inns they’d visit were colored with rich reds, yellows and golds, purples, and browns, decorated with paintings or carvings of dragons and serpents. Somehow, there would always be a beautiful receptionist to accommodate them at the front desk, which meant that the old pervert would shoo Naruto away so he could flirt with her and conduct some more of his research. Hence why Naruto thought he’d see similar once he saw the glossy wooden floors, the red satin drapes, the fancy antique-looking vases; instead, he saw a rather cute looking kid(?) with copper-reddish hair, big almond-shaped eyes, a small bump of a nose, two thin lips, and long lanky limbs.

            Sakura was the first to touch the desk and gain his attention which elicited the biggest and most innocent smile Naruto had ever seen on someone. “Hello, we’re hoping to book two rooms for the night?”

            “Yes, welcome to Orenji Inn—I’m Hashi, by the way.” He then looked down at a log book that was opened in front of him and skimmed through the first couple pages before looking back up. “We do have two rooms available, but not on the same floor. Is this acceptable for you?”

            Sakura looked to her two teammates who both nodded. “Yes, that’d be perfect, thanks.” She went to reach for her coin pouch where she placed all of her money in but was stopped by Naruto putting a hand on her shoulder.

            “It’s alright, Sakura-chan. I got it.”

            “Eh?! Are you sure, Naruto?”

            “Yeah, just head on to your room and I’ll take care of the bill. Do you guys offer dinner services, _Hashi_?”

            The young man caught on to the slight tone shift—much to Naruto’s pleasure—and blushed a pink similar to Sakura’s hair. His eyes shifted back and forth from Naruto’s smirking face to the desk, blushing more every time he made direct eye contact. “Y-Yes sir. A-At 8PM, the c-courses are served to designated rooms.”

            “Hmm, in that case, I’m going to have to decline. We’re gonna head out to eat and I’ll just have them pay for my meal,” Naruto replied with a wink. He had to reign in his joy at seeing that blush darken even more.

            “Fair enough to me,” Sakura chimed in. “Just hand me whatever key so I can go freshen up.”

            Sakura stuck out her hand, waiting for a key to be dropped in but noticed that the receptionist seemed…distracted. There was a red hue coloring his cheeks and a hazy look to his eyes that made her wonder if he was feeling light headed or something. He was too busy staring off into space, well…no, he seemed more focused on Naruto who was also staring…back? She looked at Sasuke to see if he too was in Lala-land but instead, she saw a very peeved Sasuke. Perhaps he was more tired than he let on? When Sakura cleared her throat to regain Hashi’s attention, she noticed the look of embarrassment crossing his features.

            “S-So sorry Miss! Here’s your key for room 220 a-and this key is for room 113.”

            Naruto handed the 220 key to Sakura and the 113 key to Sasuke, thinking that the two would immediately leave and although Sakura did, Sasuke remained rooted to his spot. “Teme, I told you, I got this. Just take our stuff to the room.”

            Sasuke, at first, only replied with a glare but towards Hashi instead of Naruto, before actually providing a verbal answer. “Hn. Don’t get ripped off, dobe.” With one last glare, he headed off towards the room.

            “Ah, don’t mind him, he just sucks at making new friends,” Naruto said once he noticed Hashi shiver in fear from Sasuke’s evil glares. “So, how much is it for the night?”

            “I-It’s…300 ryō, sir.”

            “Hmm, just Naruto is fine—I’m still way too young for sir.”

            “Of course, my apologies s—I mean Naruto-san.”

            Naruto provided a bright smile that had Hashi blushing all over again. Seeing that Naruto was holding a folded wad of cash in his hands, he leaned forward to take it but was met with firm resistance. Naruto hadn’t let go of the money and the two now looked like they were having a peculiar game of tug-of-war. Hashi felt confused and wasn’t sure if this was a joke or if Naruto was seriously trying to hang onto his money. But before Hashi could ask anything, Naruto pulled harshly so that Hashi could be within close proximity to his face.

            “Hashi-san,” Naruto began, blowing hot air into his face. His breath smelled of spices and warmth. “What time does your shift end?”

            “W-What?” He asked while in a daze.

            “What time do you finish working?”

            “E-Eight tonight.”

            Naruto grinned largely, very happy with the turn of events. “Great, so waddya’ say if I throw in another 100 ryō and we ‘borrow’ another room for the night…?”

            “B-Borrow, Sir? I’m n-not sure—“

            “Naruto,” Naruto clarified. “And what I mean is, I go upstairs to freshen up and let you finish your shift, come back down to take you out, and then we return for some well needed R&R.”

            Hashi remained quiet, absorbing the hot words being spoken with a deep voice. He couldn’t help but feel himself warm at the feel of Naruto’s calloused hands rubbing his wrist that was still holding the money. He had the thought to mention that the 100 ryō wouldn’t completely cover the cost of another room but then again, being an employee gave him discounts, so maybe he could just complete the little bit that’s left and accept the offer. The offer. By god, that sent tremendous shivers down his spine. Just the thought of engaging in some foreign sex with this hot foreign guy really turned him on more than he ever anticipated. But what if he’s actually a serial killer?! Don’t they usually scout their victims like this?! Well that was a mood killer. Naruto noticed this, although unsure why the kid was suddenly frowning, and pressed his thumbs a little harder into Hashi’s wrists to regain his attention.

            “What’re you thinking?” He asked.

            With hesitation, Hashi nervously looked into Naruto’s eyes, trying to debate if this was all a trick or not. “Y-You’re not…going to kill me are you?”

            “Whaa—?” The question certainly threw him for a loop but it was so random that it had him cracking up, reddening Hashi’s already flushing cheeks. “Sorry if I gave you that impression. No, I really just want to have a good time and if it’s any help for your persuasion, I’m also in need of some assistance.”

            “Assistance for what?”

            “Well you see, there’s this small project I’m working on and it really helps when I get fresh new ideas.”

            “What’s the project?” Hashi asked, now intrigued.

            “Ah ah, I can’t tell you that, not unless you go out with me. But I guess that doesn’t sound any less serial killer-like, huh?”

            Naruto was glad he managed to get Hashi to chuckle at his joke. “W-Well, I guess I have no choice. I-I’ll help you out.”

            “Excellent! See you tonight—oh, and keep it casual. Don’t want to dress too formal.”

            He saw that Hashi had acknowledged his words with a nod and headed up the stairs to the first floor. Finding the room fairly quickly, Naruto tried opening the door, assuming Sasuke would leave it unlocked for him, but instead found the contrary. He knocked a couple times—no answer—knocked again—no answer. He waited patiently some seconds and then knocked a few more times—no answer. Was the bastard in the shower? Growling under his breath, Naruto knocked like a maniac, probably disturbing the neighboring visitors in the process, but all to no avail. Finally getting fed up with the nonsense, Naruto fetched some small tools in his weapons pouch and decided picking the lock was his best bet—he was a ninja after all. After successfully unlocking the door, Naruto wasn’t expecting to be met with a barrage of fireballs! By some miracle, he managed to dodge a couple and deflect the rest, only burning his hands a bit as opposed to his whole face.

            “Oh, it’s just you,” he heard a voice say. Letting the smoke clear, Naruto could see Sasuke sitting calmly on his bed!

            “TEME! What the fuck was that?!”

            Sasuke rolled his eyes, as if Naruto were whining about something miniscule and unimportant. “We’re shinobi on an important mission; you didn’t think I’d be treating this like a vacation, did you?”

            “Setting up booby-traps around the perimeter or after we’ve left the room for dinner is one thing, but while one or both of us are in the room, that’s being paranoid!”

            “Maybe I have every right to be, especially since I was under the assumption that you’d be right back after paying the bill. Maybe I’m out of touch, but does it normally take that long?”

            Now it was Naruto’s turn to roll his eyes. “Geez, it’s called socializing—try it some time. I like meeting new people, forgive me.” He was then removing some article of clothing to ready himself for a quick bath.

            With his shirt over his head, Naruto couldn’t see the narrowing of Sasuke’s eyes. “Socializing isn’t the problem; it’s when some kid can’t be mature enough to keep it in his pants. Aside from being unprofessional, it’s pretty disgusting.”

            “What’re you talking about, Teme,” Naruto mumbled, not liking where this conversation was going.

            “He was practically throwing himself at you. A _guy_ , Naruto.”

            “So what if he’s a guy? If anything, that’s pretty fucking flattering.”

            “Fl-Flattering?!” He exclaimed with shock widening his eyes. It was soon taken over by a look of disgust, which although Naruto tried to ignore, it stung him deeply to witness. Okay, so clearly the teme wasn’t into the idea of two guys together; what did he expect? He knew, or at least had an inkling that Sasuke was as hetero as they came so why is he feeling hurt all of a sudden? Like it’s some kind of shock? He heard the sound of Sasuke sighing, urging him to look back at him. “Of course you’d say that. You’re open to anything; you can’t hate anyone.”

            “You would know that better than anyone.” The response had Sasuke snapping his eyes at Naruto and the two shared an intense stare where neither blinked. “It’s too time-wasting and exhausting trying to hate everyone and I’m not gonna blame some guy for being honest with himself.” As Sasuke made an attempt to protest, Naruto held a hand to keep him from interrupting. “Let’s just drop it, Sasuke. I don’t even know why we’re arguing in the first place.”

            He chose not to give Sasuke anymore opportunity to speak and headed straight for the bathroom with a rough close to the door. He didn’t want Sasuke to see the pained expression on his face. Damn, against his better judgement, he allowed that bastard’s words to hurt. Fuck. Naruto shrugged the rest of his clothes off and blasted the hot water, allowing the steam to completely envelop him He scrubbed at his skin with the complementary soap they provided; it smelled of mint (one of Naruto’s favorite smells). When he closed his eyes and dunked his head under the hot shower head, he pretended he was in his own personal storm. He listed to how the streams of water hit against his head, hair, and ears, enjoying the way it sounded like rain hitting against his window sill. In that world, nothing hurt too bad or at all. It was just peaceful enough to want to drown in.

            Right before the water turned cold, Naruto silently formed his infamous hand seals and summoned a clone within the tub. The clone didn’t need any instructions or directions, it already knew how to proceed. It turned off the shower and grabbed a clean towel from the rack to dry off. The clone even acted a bit standoff-ish as he exited the bathroom to look for some clothes to wear, exactly as the real Naruto would have acted after arguing as he did with Sasuke. He heard the clone reenter the bathroom to dress and then exit again to give notice that he was ready. Sasuke replied with something ending with dobe, and the clone was obviously smart enough to retort back with a ‘teme’. There was some more banter back and forth, but eventually, the two left to leave. Waiting for a couple more minutes before determining that the cost was clear, Naruto stepped out of the shower and hunted for his own clothes to wear.

 

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

 

            “No!” Both Sakura and Sasuke said in unison. 

            “Aww,” Naruto whined. “But ramen is the best meal ever, guys!”

            “Naruto, we have ramen almost every time we hang out with you. We’re outside the village, we should have something different!” Said Sakura.

            “Fine, let’s eat something else,” Naruto grumbled.

            Sakura threw her hands up in victory and proceeded to drag the two boys to a nearby BBQ joint. Despite preferring ramen, Naruto couldn’t help the watering of his mouth once he got a whiff of the restaurant. The three were seated at a table by the window with Sasuke and Sakura each sitting on opposite ends and Naruto in the middle. Like any typical meal with the three of them, they chatted about the mission (using low voices of course), the escapades of some of their friends back home, maybe some current training they’re doing, and a variety of other matters. Time seemed to sweep by without either of them noticing, not that it concerned any of them. Everything seemed to be going well for Team 7…until Sakura recalled a certain humorous story that included Naruto.

            “HAHA! I can still remember your face when you got caught—priceless!” Sakura tried saying through giggles. “But seriously, that was so dangerous, I’m still surprised you got out.”

            Naruto blushed and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, Boss should be more careful.”

            “Boss…?” Of course Sasuke had to ask.

            Oh…FUCK. Boss is gonna murder me! Quick God dammit, think of something! “Y-Yeah…my bad, I sometimes call Kurama ‘Boss’ since he likes to shout out demands and stuff.”

            Sakura didn’t seem to care either way. She simply shrugged and downed the last of her drink. “I’m just gonna head to the bathroom before we leave. Be right back.”

            Sasuke however, didn’t seem to buy it. The table was now shrouded in silence, leaving Naruto to look around and take long sips of his own drink. In the midst of said long sip, he felt a prickly sensation race along his skin and when he looked to Sasuke, the bastard was glaring at him with two narrow eyes. “What?” He snapped.

            “You only call the fox by his given name or some insulting nickname.”

            “What’s your point?”

            “Well unless the Sandaime’s grandson is around here, the only ones to call Naruto ‘Boss’ are his clones….” Sasuke was only met with silence. “Where’s the real one?”

            The clone felt no more need to lie since he was blatantly caught red-handed. Sure, the Boss was gonna wish death upon him but he was just a humble clone, not some mastermind evil genius. With a shrug, he went to take another long sip of his drink. “Where exactly? I don’t know, but he kinda gave the hint that he was gonna conduct an investigation.”

            “Investigation for what?”

            “Look, I’m just a clone, not his walking mind reader. All I know is that he wanted me to come here so that there’d be less questions to his whereabouts while he did his own thing. Ask him when he’s done.”

            Sasuke growled, really disliking the…sassiness of this clone. He would have simply ‘popped’ the clone to warm Naruto that he was on to him, but Sakura returned from the bathroom and he really didn’t feel like tattle telling. Although, it would have been pretty funny to see Sakura hunt Naruto down and pummel him. Once she returned, the three quickly finished up the remainder of their meal and paid the waitress the total.

 

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~

**MEANWHILE (EARLIER):**

 

            As promised, Naruto met Hashi at exactly eight, right when he finished his shift. Seeing Naruto waiting in the lobby made him smile like some little kid, which Naruto found really charming. Once Hashi freshened up in the back, the two headed out for a walk around the town. There was no clear destination in mind, seeing as Hashi just wanted to get to know Naruto while Naruto was already having his clone eat a meal on his behalf—he didn’t want to overdo it and make himself sick. Hence, they resorted to dessert, eating large cones of ice cream like two kids.

            “So,” Naruto began. “Tell me about your love life.”

            “What?” Hashi could only blush at Naruto’s bluntness.

            “You know, past crushes, any current ones, anyone you’re seeing now?”

            “If I were seeing someone, why would I have accepted your offer?”

            “Hey, I don’t judge anyone; whatever your reason would have been, I would have tried to understand it, even if I didn’t agree with it.”

            “Why do you want to know anything at all about such things?”

            “Now, don’t get offended, but you seem like the really loyal type. Like, nothing else in the world can exist once you’ve found the one. The thing is, you caught on to my flirting and pretty quickly too, which means you have some kind of experience in meeting new people—like us—so that either means you’re living a double life, or…”

            “Or?” Hashi questioned with a chuckle. He found Naruto’s deductions very amusing.

            “Or?” Naruto pushed, hoping Hashi would conclude the rest for him. In all honesty, he only had the one theory and he said that as a joke.

            Hashi sighed, realizing that Naruto was too smart for his own good. “Or, I’m in love with my sempai but because of reasons, I can’t confess to him.”

            “Why the hell not?”

            Hashi could only sigh again. “We’re part of the same team in yakyū*.” Naruto merely stared at him, blinking several times in the process. “It’s a popular game where two teams compete against one another. They play on a field and are subject to hit a small ball with a large stick.”

            “Really?” Naruto was intrigued and he had to give Hashi a long once over. He just couldn’t believe Hashi was capable of such a physical thing since he was much too skinny and had long limbs with little muscle.

            Noticing Naruto’s awe, he almost felt insulted, but understood why he reacted that way. “I don’t have much talent as the hitter or what they call a ‘batter’ but I’m pretty good at throwing the balls or ‘pitching’. Pitching is when a selected member throws special throws at the opponent’s batter.”

            “Ah, that I can see. So what’s any of this got to do with your sempai?”

            “He’s my ‘catcher’ or the player that catches all of the pitcher’s throws. I’ve always admired him and he’s the reason why I’m the pitcher that I am, but he only loves yakyū. He eats and sleeps it without much thought of anything else. He’s turned down a lot of confessions just so he can spend more time training. He doesn’t have time for love or loving me.”

            “I’m sorry,” Naruto said quietly. “I can empathize with that.”

            “It’s alright. It’s not where I want to be, but I still get to spend time with him on the field,” he replied with a small smile.

            It was then that the two realized their ice creams were long finished and it was time to head back. Naruto held Hashi’s hand the whole way back, appreciating the fact that Hashi didn’t shy away. The walk wasn’t long, to which the both of them were secretly glad for. Hashi grabbed the room key for one of the vacant rooms Naruto paid for before and led him there. Unlike with anything else around the inn, Naruto paid little mind to the decorations or the colors of things; he just grabbed a hold of Hashi and threw him on the bed for ravaging. Not that Hashi was complaining. In fact, he was smiling the whole time, relishing in the nips and kisses Naruto trailed down his neck and collarbone. He hadn’t even realized how much he missed this—it had certainly been a while for him—but he forgot how delicious it was to have such weight on top of him and to have random pieces of skin, places that weren’t erogenous zones, blazing with fire. That is why it was beyond baffling when Naruto stopped his ministrations and left him panting like a fish out of water.

            “N-Naruto…?”

            “Sorry, can you sit up for a moment?”

            Although confused, Hashi obeyed. He wasn’t expecting for his eyes to be engulfed in darkness by what appeared to be a…blindfold. Oh dear, was Naruto….was he expecting some type of kinky experience? Or worse, was this his final moment before Naruto killed him?! “N-Naruto, you really aren’t going to kill me, right?”

            Hashi couldn’t see, but Naruto had on a confused expression that instantly transformed into laughter. Again, Naruto wasn’t expecting that line of questioning. “Ahaha! No, why do you keep asking? I promise, no murder of yours will be done by me.”

            “Then you aren’t expecting for something…crazy to happen, are you? I, I mean, it isn’t that I’m so close-minded, it’s just—“

            “Ssh, relax, Hashi. Nothing too crazy or uncomfortable will happen, I promise. Now, I’m gonna undress you, alright? Is that alright?”

            Hashi nodded and allowed Naruto to remove his whole wardrobe. It felt odd being naked but being able to see anything. He could hear Naruto moving about, the sound of clothes shuffling, his footsteps pattering against the floor. Suddenly, his lap was enveloped in blistering heat that left him panting and painfully aroused. For whatever reason that he couldn’t fathom, Naruto was sitting on top of him—naked. “Naruto?” Was all he managed to whisper.

            He felt Naruto’s lips right at his ear. “Hashi, I want you to be selfish. I want you to hold nothing back and grab everything you want.” His voice was so soft, yet penetratingly deep.

            “What?”

            “I want you to _pretend_. What would you do if I were _him_?” He then felt Naruto grab one of his hands and trail it down a plane of hot skin that felt rough and smooth under his fingertips. Naruto didn’t help matter when he slowly began winding his hips, humping himself against Hashi. As a test unbeknownst to Hashi, Naruto let go of his hand to see how Hashi would react without his instruction, and luckily, he kept his hand on his skin. He trailed that hand up and down his chest, while hos other one grabbed on half of his ass to grind harder. Bold kid.

            “T-Taka-kun…”

            “That’s right, Hashi. I’m right here. I need you.”

            The desperation had Hashi gasping and leaning back so he could shift his legs out from under Naruto to over his thighs. Naruto accepted the invitation and gently placed the mile long legs over his waist. Seeing the look of need, even with the blindfold on, on Hashi’s face, it suddenly reminded Naruto of Sasuke’s cruel words and how he found this to be disgusting. Hashi was anything but. Maybe he valued the kid too much though he barely knew him, but moments like these were hard to ignore. That’s why he was glad he to have gotten to know him in the short time that he did. It went a long way not just for him, but for Hashi as well. That why there was no regret when he leaned down to steal a hungry kiss from the willing lips that latched on. It was the best remedy to forgetting Sasuke, even if for a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. If you haven’t guessed it already, yakyū means baseball, or more accurately, field and ball.  
> 2\. The character Hashi is (literally) based off of Mihashi from the series Ookiku Fu-rikabutte aka Big Windup. Yes, I’m a horrible person! I know. I took one of the most adorable sports-anime/manga characters and turned him into a semen-thirsty whore =’[  
> 3\. Obviously if Hashi = Mihashi, then Taka = AbeTakaya; yes, I’m also a plagerist cause I practically just plagiarized characters.  
> 4\. If you’re asking why the (technical) crossover, well, I just really needed a filler character that annoyed someone like Sasuke but interested someone like Naruto. I looked into my archives of favs and Mihashi was the perfect fit.  
> 5\. If you’re asking how a sport like baseball can exist in the Narutoverse, well, the way I see it, why not? We see in the epilogue to Naruto that a city with laptops and phones were created so I don’t see an issue with baseball being established as well. *Plus, I understand the rules of baseball more than football—I’m sorry!*


	13. The Loudest Tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> Hey guys, back again with another chapter. Good news, got accepted to one of the grad programs I applied for a few months back and I start in January! So excited to get back into it. This chapter is a bit filler-y, albeit, but I had tons of fun writing it. I get the feeling people are going to hate me for the ending of this chap but I promise better things are to come. For now, please enjoy the banter between our 2 lovebirds and let me know what you think. Follow, rate, and/or review! Thanks so much guys for the support and please enjoy!
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter Twelve:

 

            “Ugh!” Naruto groaned seconds after coming down from his climactic high.

            Hashi, who was still blindfolded, frowned at the unpleasant sound. “Um…is something wrong?” He personally thought that was some of the best sex he ever had—not like he had a lot to compare it to—so he worried that he had done something foolish to turn Naruto off.

            “No, it’s just my teammate that you saw me enter with—the scary one—he’s just being a jerk.”

            “I don’t understand.”

            “I…created a shadow clone to go have dinner with my teammates while I hung out with you.”

            Wanting to finally look at Naruto, Hashi shifted his arm out from under him and lifted the blindfold away. He was blown away with Naruto’s sweaty face, his damp hair sticking to his forehead and neck, and his blue-slit eyes looking at him as if he were food. As cliché as it sounded, a shiver of arousal ran through him. He himself was about to groan since they had already shared two rounds together—this guy had stamina! However, something else also caught his interest.

            “Shadow clone? Is that part of…um what was it called? Ninjutsu?”

            Naruto smiled before giving Hashi a long lick from his collar bone up to his neck. “Yeah it is. It’s different from a regular clone which is just used for distractions and they can’t do much. But a shadow clone is an exact copy of the person who creates them; they can move and think on their own but just can’t use up their own chakra.”

            He gasped but then had the urge to chuckle from the feel of Naruto’s tongue. To keep himself from being distracted again, Hashi nudged Naruto until he looked at him. “That sounds cool! Can all ninja do that?”

            “More of the experienced ones, yeah, but it’s my specialty because I have a lot of chakra reserves. For ordinary ninja, if they summon too many shadow clones, it could kill them since each clone has to have an equal amount of chakra.”

            “So you’d have to be some kind of powerful ninja then.”

            Naruto chuckled. “Depends on who you’re asking.”

            “What of your teammate?”

            “Ah, I forgot to mention, shadow clones, whatever they experience, the memory can be passed on to the original person when the clone disperses. My asshole of a teammate ‘popped’ my clone.”

            “Really?! Such abilities…I’m actually a little envious.”

            The excitement shown on Hashi’s face surprised Naruto. He had never thought about how physically advanced ninja were compared to civilians. Or how things like ninjutsu, or genjutsu could even seem like magic to them. Something akin to pride bubbled in the pit of Naruto’s stomach. Sure he’s always been proud of himself and his personal achievements as a shinobi, but to actually have an outsider _think_ he was cool, for doing things natural to all shinobi? That felt cool. He had the urge to puff his chest out and beat furiously on his chest.

            “Have you ever been to the Leaf Village?”

            Hashi shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

            This made Naruto smile widely from ear to ear. “If you ever think you can, you should. You’ll see a lot of other ninja do incredible stuff, some even cooler than what I can do—but I’m still the best! Even our Hokage; she’s an old lady who pretends to be young, but she has badass chakra control which means she can use it to bust down walls, the ground, trees, and damage some serious metal.”

            “Can she really do that?!”

            “Of course. Actually, that pink-haired girl you saw me come in with, she’s a teammate of mine—Sakura-chan—and she’s Baa-chan’s pupil so she can do a lot of that stuff too. Maybe I’ll ask her to bust a bolder for you.”

            Hashi laughed; the conversation just seemed so silly but invigorating, fun. He could envision everything Naruto spoke about as he babbled more about the different people he knew who could do different things. How there were a variety of clans who had specialties like those who bred and raised dogs as combat partners, or those who utilized bugs—ugh—or others who had special eye techniques. The Leaf Village sounded more like an amusement arena than a home village for thousands of people. Naruto told him about the academy and the much anticipated Chunin exams; Hashi knew about that at least. The Chunin exams were always a well talked about topic with foreigners that were only travelling to see the future and upcoming competition. In fact, now that Hashi thought about it, he could vaguely recall a few years back about a certain exam held in the Fire Nation, specifically within the Leaf Village that ended in a massive invasion from the Sand. The sudden memory made Hashi shoot up and stare at Naruto with new awe.

            “Oh my goodness!”

            “What’s wrong?” Naruto asked with an edge of concern.

            “I cannot believe I’ve forgotten your name! I’ve heard about you, years ago! You stopped a sand monster from destroying the main village during the exams!”

            Naruto blushed fiercely just as Hashi did when he was first flirted with. Now Hashi didn’t know Naruto as well as many of his close friends so there was no way for him to know that Naruto was the type of person that loved being praised, absolutely craved it, but could never get used to it when someone actually did it. He was much too humble to easily accept the kind words without believing that the person only said it out of ignorance of the situation.

            However, the real troubling thing for Naruto about that particular story was that he was so used to the praise being given to Sasuke that it was almost like he himself believed that Sasuke had been the one to defeat Gaara. If ever—although extremely rare—the topic ever came up between the members of Team 7, Sakura would start glowing and thanking the heavens that Sasuke had saved her. He didn’t have the heart to say otherwise. She _loved_ the idea that Sasuke had saved her that time because somehow, that memory trumped all of the times he tried to do the opposite. Well gee, the self-hurt had been hitting him hard lately…

            “Naruto? Are you okay?”

            “What? Oh yeah, I was just trying to remember everything about that day. It was…crazy to say the least. But you know, Gaara turned out to be one of my best friends because of that fight. He even turned out to become the current Kazekage in the Sand.”

            Hashi’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re friends now? I know there’s a treaty now between all the nations but didn’t that fight, I don’t know, stir any grudges?”

            “Haha, yeah you’d think since he kicked my ass pretty hard. I’m telling you, Gaara back then scared the piss out of me he was so scary. But we learned a lot about each other and I figured out he couldn’t be completely blamed for what happened. Later on some more things happened and it just lead us to being great friends. I’d trust him with my life.”

            “Hmm, then you’re very strong. I don’t know if I could do that, forgive someone that easily.”

            “Well, Gaara’s different than most. I guess it’s hard to tell but he’s kind of a big pussy—except when he’s mad—but he’s got such a big soft spot for shit it’s ridiculous. I mean, don’t tell anyone I ever said this, but Gaara sleeps with teddy bears—plural. Not one, but multiple.”

            Based upon from what Hashi had heard about that story from travelers and the locals, he envisioned a horrendous monster that had terrorized the Leaf years ago with his massive strength, but now he couldn’t envision any person at all. A grown guy still holding a value for teddy bears? Not that he was judging, but that almost sounded too _cute_ to be true. It even had Hashi laughing from the thought. Naruto was truly fascinating.

**Back in Sasuke’s and Naruto’s room:**

            As soon as dinner was over and everyone went their separate ways, Sasuke locked the room door and glared at the clone in front of him. The clone didn’t seem nervous or unaware of what was about to transpire, which only infuriated Sasuke even more. Perhaps Sasuke was allowing the original get away with too many shenanigans and that’s why these clones thought they could do the same.

            “I have a message for your “ _Boss._ ””

            The clone made a point of giving Sasuke an amused look. He looked at his face and then slowly shifted down to what Sasuke hoped was his shoes and then back up again. When the blue hues were back onto his face, amused wasn’t what Sasuke could call it anymore and it caused a disturbing stir within his abdomen.

            “Too bad it isn’t one he wants to hear.”

            Well what the hell did that mean? Sasuke shook his head; this clone was just trying to distract him. “You’re hiding things from me and Sakura and whatever it is, _I’m_ going to find out, _dope_.” Sasuke didn’t give the clone a chance to reply or even make a face before he stabbed a kunai into the clone’s neck. It popped into thin air, surely to have delivered the message to wherever that bastard was hiding.

            Since he was alone now he figured it was best to shower and clean up cause any second now, Naruto was going to bust in and scream his head off, insulting Sasuke and giving his undivided attention all to him. Any second. He showered and changed into more comfortable wear, hydrated himself with plenty of water for Naruto’s screaming match, and made sure to arm himself with sufficient paper bombs and kunai. Any second now.

            So actually it was _one-fucking-thousand, eight hundred_ seconds later before Naruto came back. Sasuke was shaking he was so angry. The little shit just _walked_ right in, like nothing was wrong, looking tired, a bit sweaty, somewhat disheveled….Honestly, _what the fuck?!_ Naruto noticed him staring—more like _felt_ him piercing a hole through his face—and gave a dead-panned stare right back.

            “Can I help you?”

            Sasuke gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, almost turning on his Sharigan. “You already know what I’m going to say.”

            Naruto rolled his eyes. “Right, I’m hiding stuff…have fun with that.” Of course, on the inside, he was trembling a bit because he knew better than anyone that once Sasuke set his mind to something, he’d become obsessed enough to get it till the end.

            Suddenly, Sasuke was up and in his face, moving at a speed that even caught Naruto off guard. “Where were you?” His breathe was tickling Naruto’s face and neck.

            Damn it if that didn’t conjure up some dirty thoughts. “I know you think you’re in control of everything, but you’re not the ball sack that I came from.”

            “You stink and you’re sweaty,” Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto’s comment. “But you don’t look battered, so you weren’t in a fight.” Sasuke grabbed his chin, surprising the fuck out of Naruto, and turned his head upward to get a closer look at his neck. If he noticed Naruto shaking, he didn’t say, but Jesus was he having an out-of-body experience. Sasuke, his best friend, pain-in-the-ass rival, reincarnated ‘brotha from anotha-motha’ is _sniffing his neck_!!!

            _“ **Would you calm yourself? You are acting like a female cat in heat.**_ **”**

            _“Kurama, any other day or topic I’d argue with you but Not. Right. Now.”_

            Naruto could hear a long mental sigh. **_“Not that I approve, but if he is going to make a move, then at least stop making yourself look like a fool. Lean your head back more; show him your neck and give him room to dominate.”_**

            For once, Naruto did as he was told and pushed his head back. He could feel Sasuke’s fingers skim over his jaw, neck, and shoulder. It raised goose bumps all the way from his wrist up to his arms. Naruto wasn’t sure what this may have looked like, but it felt erotic, intimate. Sasuke on the other hand was also mesmerized by Naruto’s odd behavior. He noticed Naruto’s sudden lack of whining and change of posture and something about it thrilled him. He just seemed so willing to contort himself in whatever secret way Sasuke demanded. He inhaled deeply, grasping the concept of what Naruto had been up to, and although it still upset him (not that he understood why), it pulled him in, like an unfathomable urge to delve in deeper. And he did. He danced his nose right at the bare surface of Naruto’s neck, tickling the little invisible peach fuzz. Naruto’s breath hitched and he had to bite back the want to whimper at the foreplay. His mind wandered, he couldn’t help but question this moment. He loved it, every second of it, but Jesus, just what the fuck was happening right now? Was this really happening? The confirmation filled him with intense arousal and happiness—a dangerous combination.

            However, just as Sasuke was about to take another nose-full whiff of Naruto, someone was at the door. Three loud knocks shook Naruto out of his lust-filled daze and made him shut if open body language off from Sasuke. The two had looked at each other; Naruto with confusion and shock, Sasuke with disappointment and realization. This was awkward. The door was knocked three more times before a familiar voice spoke.

            “Hey sorry for bothering you guys but wanted to speak with you quick about tomorrow…”

            Sasuke immediately back away from Naruto and cleared his throat. “I’ll…get the door.”

            Oh. _Oh_. He fucked up pretty badly this time. How he didn’t see this coming, he wasn’t sure, but he had just indirectly told Sasuke that not only he was gay, but that he was gay for him. Now Sasuke wanted to run for the hills because how else was he supposed to react upon learning that your best friend was romantically chasing after you? He ruined everything because he couldn’t handle his fucking neck being sniffed.

            “Yeah, yeah I’mma just go…shower,” he trailed off when Sasuke quickly nodded and breezed past him to the door. A lump formed in his throat. Distantly, he could hear Sasuke open the door and Sakura’s greeting before shutting the bathroom door closed behind him. He ripped his clothes off with haste, as if the material burned him, and blasted the hot water on. He didn’t care that the water was freezing cold for the first few seconds, he just jumped right in, throwing his head right under the shower head. The water and his now wet hair covered his ears and placed him in that quiet world he has learned to love so much. He didn’t hear Sasuke or Sakura and certainly, he didn’t hear his scalding tears.


	14. Foreign Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> Hey guys, back with another chapter! I am so happy for the reviews I’ve gotten thus far, thank you so much, really, they make my days. Especially recently when I tried finishing the chapters sooner and instead I was hit with friggen crippling migraines. Apparently aura migraines are a thing…freaky stuff. But all better now!  
> Just wanted to quickly address something; many of you in both of my stories have said my pacing is a little too slow and I’ve now seen this a enough times to reflect back and rethink certain things. That’s not a bad thing, actually thank you all for pointing that out because I want to write quality stuff for you and hate to hold your enthusiasm back because of something that can be handled with a bit of practice. So I promise to work on that and provide detailed but quicker events. Thank you all for your feedback, keep them coming and please enjoy!  
> P.S.: The beginning half of this chapter isn’t my fav so forgive me if it seems a little wonky and filler-like.  
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter **Thirteen** :

 

             Team seven woke up bright and early to waste little time in their travels. They—not really including Sakura—carried an air of silence that carved deep into Naruto’s heavy bags under his eyes. Last night after scrubbing his face raw in the shower, he came out to see Sakura and Sasuke sitting comfortably across each other discussing plans. He wasn’t sure there was much to discuss but it was nice to hear Sakura confidently give out commands. It reminded him that she was the head of the hospital, something that he still couldn’t seem to wrap his head around. Why, he wasn’t sure; maybe because the Sakura he came to know in the short year they were Genin was more content in having her voice heard from the back while everyone else worked at the front. But this Sakura was so different—although still forever violent—she was much more hands on, much more in the front than screaming from the back. How she jumped so far ahead of him, he didn’t know, but he was proud of her. She accomplished so much and from what he could see now, she was just a hand’s reach away from touching Sasuke, her biggest dream.

            His eyes zeroed in on Sakura’s hand that would occasionally brush against Sasuke’s or how she’d lean her head forward to hide a smile that she couldn’t resist releasing. It was as if he were imposing on a date. However, Naruto didn’t realize he was over-romanticizing the atmosphere. Sure Sakura and Sasuke were physically close but in his bubble of jealousy, he didn’t catch Sasuke glancing at Naruto. He didn’t catch the Uchiha paying full attention to Naruto’s presence. When Sakura nudged him on several occasions, he simply hummed or smirked at her to show he was paying attention. When Sakura finally did leave and Sasuke politely shown her out, he wanted to focus back on Naruto; he didn’t want to let that feeling from earlier escape from him. He was tired of feeling confused and angry at his inability to figure out what exactly he wanted but when he turned, Naruto was already tucked in, snoring away. What was he to do but also head to bed, fuming at the ears at the dobe’s childish stupidity.

            By next morning, both Naruto and Sasuke were bitter, distant, and restless. They hadn’t wished each other a good morning or any kind of usual insult which made breakfast unbearably awkward.

            “Hey, what’s up with you guys?” Sakura asked, devouring a bowl of rice.

            At first, neither boy spoke, but eventually, Naruto cracked a smile and popped in a spoonful of rice before answering. “Teme has some nasty flatulence problem. Kept me up all night.”

            Sakura’s eyes widened as Sasuke whipped his head in pure shock. He wasn’t expecting that. He then gritted his teeth, forcefully banning the blush from his heated cheek, and glared the typical Uchiha glare. “Lies, you just don’t want to admit you can’t handle a wet dream.”

            Now it was Naruto’s turn to tame his flaming cheeks. Sakura looked back between the two feuding males and she had to sigh in resignation. “Are you two fighting _again_? Look, I don’t care what’s going on but put a lid on it while we’re traveling the rest of the way, got it?” She pointed a stern finger and kept an icy glare on the two.

            Naruto nodded rapidly while Sasuke rolled his eyes and ‘hn-ed’ at her. It was close enough to an acceptance so Sakura took it. Once the group were finished with breakfast, they grabbed their bags and were ready to leave when Naruto grabbed Sakura’s arm and spun her back around.

            “Sakura-chan, before we go, can I ask a favor?” He then explained (with little detail as possible) his conversation with Hashi and how he promised to show him Sakura’s skills.

            “Why didn’t you show him any of yours?”

            “Aww, c’mon Sakura, you have some badass punches. Please? Just a little bit of destruction is all I’m asking.”

            Although it sounded a bit silly, Sakura had to admit that she was pleased that her talents were appreciated, even for little gimmicks such as this. She gave a smile and nod and watched as Naruto scurried off to find Hashi; when he found time to make friends with the clerk she had no idea, but it wasn’t surprising that Naruto could make friends with anybody. He then returned with the blushing red-head in hand and lead him directly in front of Sakura.

            “Hashi-chan, this is my friend and teammate, Sakura-chan, the one who can bust up boulders and stuff.”

            “H-Hello, Sakura-san, thank you for this, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to…,” the poor kid nervously mumbled.

            “It’s alright, I don’t mind at all. Naruto tells me you haven’t seen much ninja tricks around here.”

            Hashi shook his head. “I’ve met a lot of shinobi working here in the Inn but no one really flaunts any of their specialties, even with weapons, so I’m not sure what many of you can do.”

            “Yosh, then you’ll love this. See that boulder there? I’m gonna break it using chakra control which means I use my own chakra and control how little or much I put into one punch. Just like Naruto’s clones, not everyone can do this correctly since it takes a lot of practice and precision. Ready?”

            Hashi nodded excitedly and watched as Sakura quickly made her way towards the boulder. It was a rather big rock that awkwardly stood to the side of the entryway of the forest. He still couldn’t see how it was possible for a young woman to completely destroy a big boulder such as that, but within minutes—after Sakura had to put on her glove—he saw her crank her arm backwards and then surge it forward with a quiet shout. Sure enough, her fist rammed itself through the hard exterior and crumbled the boulder down into minor little rocks.

            “Yeah! See Hashi, how cool was that?!” Naruto asked.

            “Yes, very!” Hashi replied with laughter lacing his tone. It was indeed very cool.

            “Can we go now?” Said a grumpy, cold voice. All parties turned to Sasuke who had been standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and a deep frown. Hashi had to look away to avoid feeling scorned by that look. Was Naruto-san really friends with that guy? It didn’t seem possible with the differing personalities.

            “Be nice, Sasuke,” sakura warned. “Well, see you, Hashi-san, hope you enjoyed!”

            “I-I did, thank you! Hope to see you again as well.”

            Naruto provided a heated glare right back at Sasuke, silently warning him to back off. The Uchiha didn’t move at first, instead keeping his icy glare on Hashi, but eventually, he followed behind Sakura, that frown still etched on his face. “I’m sorry about him, he’s a dumbass.”

            “It’s ok, I understand. I thank you for _everything_ you have shown me,” he said with a blush. “Also, if you happen to have time, please take these.” Hashi handed him two little slips of paper—tickets to a game. The bold print told Naruto a date and time of the game. “The seats are pretty close so if you want to stop by and see how the game looks…or just to say hi…”

            “This is awesome, Hashi, thanks! I can’t make any promises but I’ll send a letter regardless. I really appreciate this.”

            “It’s no problem. Good luck on your mission and on that project of yours.”

            The two parties waved good bye and Naruto hurried to catch up to Sakura and Sasuke, neither who bothered to wait for him. They kept the pace consistent, not even bothering to keep casual conversation as they had done in the beginning of the mission. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all too difficult for the members of Team 7 lose themselves in their own minds and walk mindlessly throughout the day; the village hidden in the Mist was about the same distance as the Sand (since the Fire nation was such a large nation) minus an hour or so. In fact, Naruto could swear he already could feel cool air tickling his cheeks, a clear sign that they were about to reach the greyest land on earth. When night reached again, the three members prepared a small camp and readied their meals for dinner, quietly discussing who’d take first watch and last. The Teme volunteered to keep watch first and then wake Sakura up when his shift was done. No one disputed even though it irked Naruto that Sasuke was avoiding him, only making him feel his worst fears were confirmed. When that thought crossed his mind, he softened his angered features and considered the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was wiser to give Sasuke space, to let him figure out how weird this all must be. With that little sliver of positivity in mind, he closed his eyes in hopes of sleep.

            Naruto was awoken hours later by a soft hand roughly shaking him back and forth. Thankfully, he wasn’t heavily sleeping, so he opened his eyes within snap and looked up to see Sakura’s tired face hovering over his. For some reason, he worried that even muttering a ‘good morning’ or ‘hello’ would irritate her even more—Sakura is _not_ a morning person—but despite that, she cracked a smile and whispered that it was his turn for watch. Naruto nodded and moved out of his makeshift bed to let Sakura hop right in. She mewled in delight bathing in Naruto’s warmth, which incited a quiet chuckle from Naruto; he was glad he could be of some use, even if it were just for warmth. Kurama spoiled him some more by upping his temperature just a bit to withstand against the brisk air that came during the night.

            Within the blink of an eye, the last watch was over and it was time to pack up the majority of the camp. Naruto could already hear Sakura and Sasuke bustling about so he figured he could at least make some breakfast.

            “We should make it by early evening at this rate,” Sakura said during breakfast.

            “Hn,” Sasuke agreed.

            “Then I guess we shouldn’t waste any more time in case Jimmen gets any worse,” Naruto threw in.

            The three of them finished cleaning up their site and continued on their way to Mist. The silence dragged on for the remainder of the day except for the occasional question here and there mainly from Sakura. She did seem to notice the tense air between her male counterparts but it wasn’t as if this was the first time she’s witnessed their immature behavior. However, she equally participated in the silence along with them, feeling too preoccupied with thoughts of Jimmen; they were approaching the village soon and she wondered what his condition would be like at this point. The air began to feel much colder, a bit more windy, and not so surprisingly, misty. Sure enough, by the time they saw the large gates with the Mist symbol the day had struck into the later hours and it had begun raining. Naruto picked up his pace a bit, unable to keep his anxiety in check while Sasuke and Sakura quickly followed. Through the mist and rain, they could see two figures standing by the entrance; Naruto didn’t sense any malice from them and decided it was safe to continue approaching.

            When they finally reached the figures, they saw it was a tall man and a short woman. From what could be see through the rainy mist, the man was dark-skinned wearing only black clothing and a top hat while the woman was several shades lighter than the male with what appeared to be a black tutu designed with white patterns. Her hair was a glossy black pulled tightly into a bun, decorated by a large rose—unlike her partner, she held an umbrella steadily over her head.

            “Uh, hello, we’re from the Leaf—“

            “Uzumaki?” The woman questioned. Her voice was a bit high, but still smooth-sounding.

            Naruto was almost afraid to answer. He had only been to the Mist once while travelling with Ero-Senin and he never recalled bumping into these two. Thankfully Sasuke stepped up and answered instead. “You first, who’re you?”

            “This is Marlo,” the woman replied, gesturing to the man. “And I am Meelo. We must be careful with who enters our village. Very unfortunate things are occurring in these times of peace.”

            “That’s why we’re here. Our Hokage sent us to see a…patient of yours. I’m Uzumaki and this is—“

            “Uchiha and Haruno. Then follow behind me and I’ll lead you to our Mizukage.” She said nothing more as she turned and walked through the thick fog surrounding the gates of the village. Afraid that they’d lose her, Naruto scrambled to catch her with Sakura and Sasuke in tow, except they happened to notice Marlo remaining still.

            “Uh, is your friend not coming?” Naruto asked.

            “Marlo will follow behind you to keep a close eye.”

            That didn’t necessarily make anyone feel any better. Instead, they could feel Marlo silently follow behind them like a floating ghost. What Naruto also noticed was the guy’s lack of umbrella—he was drenched to his bones. “Dude, do you not have an umbrella?”

            The scary and tall man went from staring straight ahead to looking down at Naruto. Naruto noticed two things at once; for one, this man was ridiculously tall, almost like a full foot (if not impossibly taller) than him and Sasuke, and two, his eyes were bluer than anything he had ever seen in his entire life. People always complimented how rare his eyes were, not that he was an expert on rarities, but he’d take those praises as truth and assumed that there weren’t that many people with sapphire colored hues. Obviously he was mistaken. Marlo had blues that put his to shame and that somehow both intrigued and terrified him.  

            “I have no need for an umbrella, Sir.” The voice was a deep baritone but it had some sort of twang to it that gave it a more melodic sound. That was a voice made for story-telling, which was a weird thought for Naruto, but that was the best way to compare it.

            It hadn’t taken long to reach the Mizukage’s office; it was a similar building to their own kage with the office located at the top floor. Meelo have the main door three knocks before a voice commanded them to come in.

            “Ah, if it isn’t the hero of the war!” The Mizukage, Mei Terumi, exclaimed. She was a young beauty with chocolate locks framing her face, long fringes covering one half of her face and revealing one emerald eye. Her skin was milky pale but not a bruise or mark could be found—not that she revealed much skin. She was sitting straight behind her desk with her chin sitting heavily on her folded fingers. There was a smile but it hadn’t reached her one visible eye.

            Despite that, her welcoming brought about a blush to Naruto’s cheeks. “It was actually a joint effort,” he tried admitting but this woman was as stubborn as Tsunade.

            “I know marriage takes a joint effort!”

            Bewildered at her reply, Naruto took an instant step back, accidentally bumping into Marlo. “What?!”

            “He was speaking about the war, My Lady. He won it by joint effort,” Meelo interjected. She was bowed, seeming unfazed by the weird behavior.

            “Oh, alright then, back to usual business. I see you’ve brought some protection with you as well.”

            “Uh,” Naruto was still confused over the whole ordeal. “Y-Yes, but Baa—I mean our Hokage also sent Sakura-chan; she’s here to do a medical evaluation on Jimmen.”

            “Very well, you should see him as soon as possible,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I warn you that he had to be moved into an isolated room since his condition is so critical. I honestly don’t think he’ll make it.”

            “I’ll do my best to prevent that, Lady Mizukage,” Sakura said after bowing.

            Again, Mei gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m sure, but I just want you to know that the odds are pretty big. We’re still heavily searching for what or _who_ may have done this…”

            “Don’t worry, me and Teme here will help with the investigating. We’ll catch this guy, I promise.”


	15. The Sun's Tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> Hey guys, hope everyone and thing is alright and doing well. I apologize for the long wait—trust me, I’ve read some of your comment and I get so excited to see you guys enjoy the story and demand more but then I feel so sad and guilty when it takes me forever to spit a chapter out. If you’ve read my other story and my AN, some of you know I’ve been battling some financial stress and the blues but I’ve gotten back on my feet. I work with autistic kids now and the schedule at first was insanely hectic. Now I’ve gotten the swing of things and should hopefully be able to dedicate some more time to writing in between doing my homework/school.  
> Hope you guys understand! Thank you so much for the love, comments, and support!   
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter Fourteen:

 

             The Mizukage lead the team to the hospital with Meelo and Marlo and a couple of other guards closely following. As expected, when she entered the hospital, every staff member paused and bowed in welcome, however Terumi seemed only interested in looking ahead and headed straight towards the ICU* department. Naruto tried to ignore the stares (and one would think he’d be used to them since he’s grown up most of his life being stared at) but with so many eyes trained on him, it was hard to ignore. Looking around, he could only see looks of somberness. Jimmen must have been a valued individual and for that, Naruto was glad. Being a container was never an easy feat, even in these peaceful times.

            They had walked well into the department and walked to the end of a corridor where two guards stood before a door that read M-14. When Terumi ordered one of the guards to open the door, the guard reached into his pocket to retrieve some form of card, from what Naruto could tell. He performed a couple hand signals and turned to slip the card into the slot right next to the door. A small green light appeared and the guard unlocked the door, stepping aside to allow the group to enter. Terumi wasted little time in stepping inside, having the rest of the group follow hastily. However, when walking inside, instead of walking into a hospital room, they walked into what appeared to be a big white blank room.

            “What the heck is this?” Naruto questioned.

            Terumi raised an eyebrow. “Jimmen’s room. I did say this was where we were heading.”

            “No, I mean—“

            Sakura interrupted by smacking Naruto on the back of his head. “You idiot, don’t you know what ICU stands for?” Seeing Naruto blush, it was clear he did not. “Intensive Care Unit; Jimmen-san can’t be in a regular room because his immune system—that’s the body’s internal defenses against illnesses—is messed up. He could get infections very easily or worse so this the sterilization section where we prepare ourselves before we actually go into his room.”

            “Oh, I see, so I guess we put those things on?” He gestured to some protective wear stationed on the opposite wall of where they all stood.

            “That’s the plan, but first,” Terumi then pressed a button located by a sealed door, presumably the actual entrance to Jimmen’s room, and instantly, the room filled with some type of gas. “Do not worry, this will sterilize you and your clothes first before you put on the protective gear.”

            As soon as the gas cleared, all parties grabbed the offered gowns, gloves, and caps to put on. When Terumi saw that everyone was all set and secured, she opened the sealed door and had everyone follow her inside. Meanwhile, Naruto’s heart began pounding; he wasn’t nervous before but he was suddenly hit with the realization that there was a deadline. He couldn’t mess this up, he had to find as many clues as possible in case Jimmen could not live long enough to help them. That thought tugged at Naruto’s heart-strings. The thought of someone dying under his protection and not just anyone, but a fellow brother of sorts. If there was any time to pray (not that Naruto was a big believer in such things), now was a good of a time as any. Regardless, he internally prayed for Jimmen’s wellbeing.

            Upon finally seeing the fragile body on the bed, Naruto’s hope took a deep hit. He remembered the first time meeting Jimmen, when the support group for the jinjuriki was first established; he was baby-faced with clear tanned skin, big brown eyes, shaggy-styled raven hair, a lean frame similar to his own but Jimmen’s muscles were a tad thicker. Although his personality was calm and innocent, just by looking at his eyes alone, one could tell he was a unique one. There was something about him that spelled strong. But now, Naruto could see a dramatic loss of muscle, leaving a scary wake of veins and bones, dry, pale skin, frail hair and nails, and soft whispers of breath weakly coming from his mouth.

            “Jimmen?!” Naruto stuttered out, although his voice was oddly contorted thanks to the face mask he was wearing. However, his voice did not reach the slumbering boy’s ears, so Terumi stepped forward to lightly trace her fingers on the boy’s arm. She whispered his name a couple of times before finally opening his eyes.

            The eyes that greeted both her and Naruto were not the brown they were expecting, but two pale pinks instead. **_“I-Isobu…sorry.”_** Unfortunately, like the rest of Jimmen’s physique, his voice sounded as equally broken.

            Before Naruto could reply, he felt Kurama’s mental presence pressing against his own, demanding attention. “ _What’s wrong?”_

            “ _Let me speak to him. Isobu took the forefront for a reason and I know him better then you do._ ”

            “ _I don’t have a problem with that, just please find out as much information as you can._ ”

            Kurama grunted as opposed to replying and pressed his consciousness harder against Naruto’s to gain complete control. It took mere seconds for his mental control to take physical effect on Naruto’s body, as it had done before with Gaara. The claws and fangs protruded out, the whisker marks on his cheeks darkened, and his eyes shifted from blue to red. Everyone else in the room hadn’t expected the transformation and since it had been a while (last time being the war) since witnessing Naruto’s ‘demonic’ form, it had taken all parties by surprise. Terumi, although not feeling scared or threatened, knew better than to react thoughtlessly and stood back from the bed. Sakura on the other hand, did begin to feel sweat pooling at the back of her neck as nervousness crept upon her; she never really liked the biju since she always felt scared of them, particularly Kurama, but she had enough faith in Naruto to know what he was doing. As for Sasuke, the sight was certainly enrapturing. He hadn’t seen this particular form since they fought at the Valley. This version looked different, however; Naruto’s face was much calmer and a lot less murderous, but that was obvious.

            Looking at it now, without the context of battle, Sasuke had to admit, it was an interesting sight. Naruto looked much more wild since the original whisker marks were now thick and curled around the edges of his face and his eyes were narrowed, the pupils slit like two nicked marbles. It was something that should have been threatening and a clear sign to back away from, but also something you couldn’t dare look away from.

            **“Girl,”** Kurama stated, gesturing to Sakura. He slowly flicked those red orbs at the duo standing close by him and gave Sakura a long stare. She was soon fidgeting. **“I suggest you get to work while I keep him talking. The feeling I get suggests his energy is too low to keep him awake past now.”**

            “Y-Yeah, okay, e-excuse me,” Sakura shakily replied. Although she was very wary of Kurama, Sakura did not lack in closing the gap between Jimmen and herself. When it concerned medicine, Sakura feared nothing or no one. As she worked on the essentials, his current symptoms, Kurama slid his palm into Jimmen’s.

            **“Isobu,”** he called softly.

            Isobu opened his eyes again and noticed Kurama staring back at him. **“Kurama-ni…”**

“ **Who hurt you?”**

            Instead of answering, Isobu crinkled his human face in pain and took a shuddering breath. His eyes were glassy but the pink of his eyes still stood out prominently. **“Isobu weak…Isobu trus-ting…I—Isobu sorry—“**

            **“Forget that shit and tell me who poisoned you?”**

            **“Girl…by the cliff…p-painted…eight clouds.”**

            Well…that wasn’t very helpful, but a start nonetheless. It was a female by a cliff. **“I need more than that, Isobu. What about a name or what she looks like?”**

            Isobu heaved, disturbing Sakura who had been trying to check his lungs. Giving her a quick glance, Kurama noticed Sakura’s frown but Isobu trying to get his attention prevented him from asking what was wrong. **“Demon—looked like a demon. Tr-Tricked…me…with g-gen—“**

            There was a stutter to his speech before a horrible gasp sounded out from him. Everyone present watched in horror as Jimmen’s body began convulsing, flailing in a manner that was sure to harm him further. Kurama attempted to pin his arms, but Sakura blocked him, nearly signing her own death by doing so.

            “He’s going into shock! Please step aside. Everyone, OUT!”

            _“Kurama, do as she says. She knows what she’s doing,”_ Naruto said softly. There was, without a doubt, a worried tone saturated in Naruto’s speech, but that still didn’t make him wrong. Without much of a choice, Kurama allowed Naruto to regain access to his body and walked out with everyone else minus Sakura and the Mizukage.

            However, Terumi turned sharply at the group leaving revealing a stern but hopeless expression. “Marlo and Meelo! Inform the council and bring over the jar!” She ordered.

            Both Marlo and Meelo nodded and turned to leave as quickly as they could. “Wait!” Naruto shouted. “Let me come with you!”

            Meelo paused. “Mr. Uzumaki, I think it is best if you remain here in case things go awry with Jimmen.”

            Naruto made to protest but Sasuke blocked his view of her and gained his attention. “She’s right, dobe. I’ll go and you stay here.”

            “Asshole,” Naruto growled. “Fine, but…hurry. I have a really bad feeling about this.”

            Sasuke nodded but Naruto wasn’t sure if it was because he told him he had to hurry or because he agreed about the bad feeling sitting at the pit of Naruto’s stomach. He watched as the three shinobi scurried off while all he could do was wait.

~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~ 

            Running behind Marlo and Meelo turned out to be an interesting challenge on Sasuke’s end. It was as if they two were in another world of their own, moving at a speed meant for only them to sync to. Every time Sasuke’d try to move alongside Meelo, she’d curve away and somehow end up on Marlo’s other side or if he tried to move right behind them, they’d both move to the side; Sasuke had to restrain himself from growling at them. The only position they’d allow was Sasuke running alongside Marlo. Just what kind of games were they playing? However, as much as Sasuke wanted to demand what they hell they were playing at, he had a more pressing question to ask.

            “The Mizukage asked for a jar, what was she referring to?”

            Meelo, umbrella and all, turned her head despite her body still facing forward. In all his years of seeing the nastiest, most gruesome, violent shit ever, had he ever expected to be creeped the fuck out like he was now. Uchiha Sasuke is not known for screaming or even flinching, but goddamn did he actually have to try to hold back a loud and scared _‘WHAT the FUCK?!’_. “The jar is a precaution. In the case that Jimmen does not survive, the biju will need to be sealed until a suitable candidate can be selected via committee. Mr. Uzumaki is part of this committee.”

            _Oh yeah,_ Sasuke thought, he had forgotten that little fact. Now that he thought about it, Sasuke wondered if that was something to think about. Could the person (or people) poisoning the jinchūriki be trying to sabotage the committee or something else along those lines? He vowed to bring up the line of questions to Naruto when he had a chance. Until then, Sasuke focused on following the duo to their destination, even though he was now hesitant in doing anything that may trigger another freaky reaction. In a short time, the trio reached the Mizukage’s tower where the council members were located. Similarly to Konoha, the Village of the Mist had two elder voices with permanent frowning faces that assisted in the functioning of the village except instead of some uppity ~~cunt~~ devil and a pussy-whipped racist, these were two—slightly younger—women. One was a pale blonde with a red kimono embroidered with pink and white flowers and tied with a grey-colored obi. She was on the taller side but a slight hump on her back seemed to have shortened her some. While her partner was a silver-haired woman about the same height but with a light blue kimono, purple and white flowers, and a pink obi.

            “Nūdoru-sama, Butan-sama, we are to inform you that Jimmen’s injuries have taken for the worse and Mizukage-sama wishes for your presence as well as the jar,” Meelo said after she greeted the women.

            The blonde, Nūdoru, spoke up first. “Dare my eyes deceive me or am I seeing an Uchiha before me…?” Her voice, as opposed to her physical appearance, sounded youthful, nearly child-like.

            “Forgive me, my lady, this is Uchiha Sasuke from Konoha. He accompanied two other shinobi to investigate Jimmen’s situation.”

            “I see…and would one of the other shinobi you’ve accompanied happen to be Uzumaki Naruto?”

            Skepticism immediately crept into Sasuke’s system. “May I ask why you sound so interested?”

            Instead of being offended by the overprotective tone, Nūdoru grinned a wide, toothy grin. “Consider me a fan.”

            _I’m about to consider your throat slit—_ Sasuke violently thought, but Marlo tipped his top hat over and bowed at the two women. “Nūdoru-sama and Butan-sama, we must return to Lady Mizukage at once. She is eagerly awaiting our return.”

            This time, it was the silver-haired who spoke. Her voice was opposite of the blonde, sounding much rougher, older. “Yes, yes, we heard you the first time—in case the jinchūriki dies…it is not as if we haven’t thought everything through.”

            “You don’t seem so concerned about him possibly dying.”

            Butan straightened her back as far as she could to give Sasuke a leveled look. “Why should I be? The rules may be new, what with this committee and times of peace—yada yada—but the concept is the same. Any and all jinchūriki can be replaced.”

            “Hush now, no need to be rude,” Nūdoru chided.

            There was silence. Except Sasuke wasn’t sure if it was because the two old bitches finally decided to shut up or because all of Sasuke’s blood supply decided to clog his ears. It appeared to be the second option since all Sasuke could see was red. Maybe they were the ones responsible for the poisonings! “You fu—“

            “I have located the jar. We can now proceed,” Meelo interjected. Apparently, like the most ninja should be, Meelo retrieved the wanted jar from inside the Mizukage tower after she introduced him to their council. Sasuke hadn’t even known she was missing since he’d been preoccupied.

            “Very well, let’s set out,” Butan said with some kind of bored tone. Sasuke was going to kill her first, he’d make sure of it.

            Regardless, the party of five jumped into motion and directed themselves back towards the hospital. Looking at all of his surroundings, Sasuke also noticed the jar the Meelo had been carrying and noted the wavy design and lumpy exterior. It didn’t appear to be any type of special jar, fragile even, yet everyone seemed pretty adamant about it.

            “Is this the only jar you can use for sealing the Sanabi?”

            Meelo glanced at Sasuke and looked back ahead of her, looking as if she hadn’t even heard him. “Yes. It is made from the Sanabi’s skin and chakra, making it the only item possible to seal him in until another host is selected.”

            “Hn.”

            The rest of the travel was relatively silent and just as before, the trip was fairly short, luckily for Sasuke. He wanted to give Naruto warning to stay as far away from the two she-devils as he possibly could. Except, when he saw the normally bumbling and energetic idiot, he only saw what he could describe with certainty, the saddest expression he’d ever seen. Naruto’s aura was dark, his entire posture was stiff and slumped, his eyes glassy and faraway, and his bottom lip tucked between his teeth. He didn’t need to ask what was wrong.

            Sasuke’s presence was felt before seen which did relax Naruto a bit. He was glad Sasuke hadn’t taken too long to return. Although he wanted to call out to him and explain what had happened, his throat was much too tight. “He didn’t make it,” was all he could croak.

            Staring right into Naruto’s swimming blue eyes, Sasuke said, “I’m sorry.” Such surprising words to hear from him but very, _very_ welcomed. Sasuke knew this and was glad it could help Naruto, even if just a little bit. He was just hoping Naruto wouldn’t get used to it. This was an exception but that was mostly due to Sasuke’s philosophy on balance. If Naruto was the sun and he the moon, it was unacceptable for the sun to lose its warmth and shine. Not if the moon had anything to do about it.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke really hates council members, don't he?


	16. SHOTS FIRED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> OMG, finally back with a new chapter! Sorry for the delay, I’ll be honest, I got held up because I was over-indulging in some fanfictions of One Piece (ZoSan) and AoT (Ereri and Eruieri) which are my OTPs and favorite series. I know, that’s not right, but with the latest chapters in both series, I couldn’t help it!! Anyway, this chapter was a shit-ton fun to write because Kurama is my favorite! Of course, this chapter is a lot shorter than the others but I figured enough shots were fired in this chapter to keep the angst balanced. Sorry, but Sasuke got destroyed haha. So please enjoy, review, and let me know. Whose your OTP from any series?  
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter Sixteen:

 

             After a tense five minutes of silence, Sakura came out to join her two teammates. She noticed the foreign scene of Sasuke consoling Naruto—or anyone for that matter—and was so shocked, she nearly let out a gasp, however, she considered _why_ he was consoling Naruto and thought it too rude to do so. Instead, she approached the two and placed a gentle hand on Naruto’s shoulder.

            “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

            Naruto turned with a saddened expression, but found it within himself to smile; he appreciated her sincerity but felt guilty that she blamed any of this on herself at all. “Don’t be sorry, Sakura-chan. You did your best, thanks.”

            Sakura wanted to disagree but she held her tongue. There was no reason to argue.

            “Will you…be doing the autopsy?” Naruto asked. He looked uneasy saying the word.

            “Well I’ll have to send word to Lady Tsunade first to notify her of Jimmen’s passing. It’ll be up to the Kages to decided how we’ll proceed. How about the committee?”

            “I don’t know if all the Kages have to meet up, but at least Baa-chan and the Mizukage have to, go over what happened, and talk about possible candidates. After, I’ll meet up with Gaara and the rest of the committee to make the final decision,” Naruto said in one breath. Although his tone was still laced with grief, both Sakura and Sasuke noticed a quiet authoritative twang. Not like that of Shikamaru and his military prowess, but something still as fierce; a reminder of Naruto’s hidden gift with strategy and order.

            “Then if we’re going to wait for orders, we might as well start with what we know—Jimmen’s last words,” Sasuke interjected.

            “Yeah what did he say, Naruto?”

            Sakura’s question stumped Naruto for a moment. “What do you mean?”

            “What did Jimmen-san—or Isobu-san actually—tell you?”

            “But you were both right there. Sakura, you were right next to me. Did you guys not hear us?”

            “It’s not a matter of hearing, Dobe. We couldn’t understand what you were saying. You two were speaking in another language.”

            Naruto’s eyes widened at that. “Woah, really?! But it sounded normal to me! What did it sound like?”

            Sakura had been the one to speak up after a moment of pondering from the two. “A little louder than grumbling with a bunch of tongue-clicks mixed in. And also some of it came out like dragged out whispers. It was…pretty creepy to be honest.”

            “Wow, I had no idea; Kurama never said anything about it. I guess since we— _they_ —don’t speak to each other often, no one ever realized.”

            Sasuke nodded but seemed eager to move on. “Back to the matter on hand, what did he say before his passing?”

            “He said he was tricked by a girl by the cliff and right before he went into shock, he said she looked like a demon.”

            “That was it?” Sasuke asked with a grimace. He disliked the vague information; it wasn’t helpful at all.

            “Well, he was cut off before he could finish his last sentence: he said, ‘ _gen—_ ‘so I’m assuming he wanted to say genjutsu. I guess he was tricked by a demon-looking girl, by the cliff, who used genjutsu—oh! And something about clouds and a painting but I have no idea what that meant.”

            All three parties frowned simultaneously. “That doesn’t make any sense, Dobe.”

            Naruto felt irritation prickle under his skin. “Well what the hell do you want me to do? I’m just repeating what he said but I couldn’t get much since he….,” he trailed off, suddenly saddened again by the reality. 

            “Naruto’s right, Sasuke, this isn’t his fault. Let’s just see what we can work with; we have a where—the cliff—and we have a how—by genjutsu. The who is iffy but at least it’s a little something to start with. Now it’s the what and why that we have to focus on. Could the clouds and painting be a reference to something? Something Isobu-san was trying to communicate to Kurama-sama, that’d only he’d understand?”

            “I don’t know, but I could try and ask,” Naruto replied, immediately jumping into his own psyche to find Kurama’a attention. “ _Hey, did you hear all of that? What do you think?_ ”

            Despite it only being mental, Naruto could feel Kurama’s presence as if it manifested into a physical form and touched him. It moved around him like lava; intense, and powerful, and hot. At another stage of his life, Naruto would have hated this feeling, but now, he relaxed into it. It felt like a safety net of sorts, as if Kurama was a permanent fixture in his shadows. Although, he did internally question why Kurama hadn’t shown himself yet or answer—he would have by now instead playing some type of hide-and-seek game like he was now. Within seconds, Naruto finally understood why. Like the fucking predator foxes are stereotyped to be, Kurama ambushed him, taking his consciousness for himself before Naruto could fight it. Sasuke and Sakura could only find themselves surprised when instead of ocean blues, they saw crimson red.

            “ _KURAMA, you bastard! You could have just asked!_ ”

            “ ** _Ah, but where’s the fun in that?_** ”

            “ _This is no time for fun!_ ” But Kurama ignored him.

 **“Back at the forefront. Why, hello children,”** Kurama said before unleashing a wide and toothy grin.

            As for the duo, well Sakura had never held a conversation with the demon before and the one time Sasuke did, it was when he was at the other side of the trusting fence. For first impressions, he was sure he scored low, especially after being paralleled to Madara and popping his demon bubble body by the nose. Hopefully he didn’t carry any hard feelings. However, Kurama took it upon himself to speak first.

 **“Sakura-san,”** he purred. A fierce blush that Sakura didn’t even know she was capable of came forth on her cheeks and neck. **“I have to apologize for my rude behavior in the room. Time was of the essence, you understand.”**

            “Y-Yes, of course! N-No need to apologize!”

            Kurama then shifted his gaze towards Sasuke. **“Uchiha, so…fortunate to see you in person again. It’s been a while hasn’t it? I believe the last time we parted ways, it was when you were still kneeling to that snake.”**

            Okay, grudge still alive and well, it seems. With narrowed eyes and a scowl, Sauske replied, “That was more than two years ago.”

**“Ah, of course, I knew not that being a waste of living space held a concluded piece of time.”**

            “I didn’t know that a sentient being could hold on to such petty grudges for so long,” he fired back.

**“Hahaha, coming from a child who ran away from home because he couldn’t handle his grievances. Tell me, did the vengeance you sought after feel better before you killed your brother or after learning the truth of his actions?”**

            Sasuke snarled as he lunged forward to strike, sword in hand. But before he could even land a hit, both of them felt the ground beneath their feet shaking and it took very little investigating to know who caused it. Thankfully, Sakura only used a little of her strength to crack the area around them to keep their balance off. It was enough to create some distance between Sasuke and Kurama.

            “Sakura, who the fuck side are you on?!”

            “Cool it!” she shouted. “You too, Kurama-sama. We don’t have time for this! We simply want to know your interpretation of Isobu-san’s message. If you can’t help with that, see to it that Naruto returns to us so we can get moving on to other matters.”

            Another toothy grin made an appearance. **“I used to thank the nonexistent gods that Naruto never sought for your maidenhead, but perhaps I was mistaken. My, how grown you’ve become, Sakura-san.”**

            Sakura honestly didn’t know whether to feel complimented or insulted, but either way, she couldn’t stop the embarrassed flush that painted her skin. Kurama truly was an interesting character. “A-Anyway, did Isobu-san’s words mean anything?”

**“There is a sense of familiarity to those words, but more from Naruto than from me.”**

            “Meaning?” Sasuke spat venomously.

**“That Naruto has had some type of encounter or memory of what Isobu was talking about, but he’s forgotten. It will take some time, but I will look through his memories and catch any connections to this mystery.”**

            “Wait a minute, instead of going through that trouble, wouldn’t it make more sense to have Ino-pig or someone from her family do that? They do have specific jutsus for this exact type of scenario.”

**“I’m afraid there are two major issues with your plan of action. The first is due to logic; we are in a foreign country that is days away from your home village. As you have stated before, there is simply no time for such a wait. The second issue stems from impossibility. Entering Naruto’s psyche is one thing, but entering into his memories is of a completely different matter. The proper bond between a biju and its container creates impenetrable walls that seal away any possibility of outsiders looking in. Another words, you’d be sentencing your comrade to an instant, but horrendously painful death.”**

            Sakura gulped and looked down in disappointment. As for Sasuke, he was more peeved than disheartened. “But don’t you see and feel everything that the dobe does? If Naruto remembers something, why the hell can’t you right now?”

**“Because Naruto and I were not properly bonded at the beginning of my sealing. We were only connected when he was highly stressed or emotional which were more negative connections than positive. Any situation before those moments or after are invisible to me. But do not worry, Uchiha, I remember a lot about you. This old fox hasn’t forgotten.”**

            Before another fight could escalate, Sakura stepped in between the brutes. “Alright, so now we have a plan. Kurama-sama is going to be looking for any clues in Naruto’s memories while Naruto, Sasuke, and I go investigate the cliff site. Any questions?” Both Sasuke and Kurama shook their heads. “Good. Now Kurama-sama, if you wouldn’t mind bringing Naruto back as soon as possible, that would be greatly appreciated. For now, let’s get a move on.”

            Sakura began walking in some direction that lead Sasuke to believe where the cliff could possibly be located. That left Sasuke and Kurama—sort of—alone. They knew that if they were to pick up where they left off, Sakura would turn around and punch the ground until the portals of Hell were to open.

            So instead, Kurama chose to play nice. **“After you, Uchiha.”**

            Sasuke could only curl his lip in disgust. Truly, he was beginning to hate this fox. “Let me remind you that it was an Uchiha who put you in your place all of those years ago. Keep playing your cards wrong, and you may find yourself back there.”

            Naruto’s contorted face frowned. Considering how little Naruto has ever frowned in his life, the feature looked wrong, but it had to be remembered that right not, it wasn’t Naruto’s expression, it was Kurama’s. He mimicked Sasuke and curled his lip, revealing white, shiny canines meant to pierce flesh. **“Same advice to you, friend. If you want to continue talking down to a being such as I, I will see to it that your spine is ripped out through your backdoor cunt.”**

            Creative, he’d give him that. Yet he scoffed. “As if Naruto would let you. You forget, old fox, he chose me.”

            A low and deep chuckle—a more demonic sound if he ever heard one—escaped through his lips. **“No, you forget. What will never be forgotten in your ever traumatic betrayal. His chest still aches on occasion. Especially on rainy days. It is when he remembers most vividly, the moment you pierced his flesh with your hand. The moment you severed your bond.**

**“He may have chosen you back then, but rest assured, times have changed. Boldness grows in this boy more as the days come to pass and his desires ever prove it. If you think it is a guarantee that he will choose you again, think twice.”**

            “Guys, hurry up already!” Sakura shouted from a short distance. Kurama obeyed and turned to follow, leaving his words to carve their way into Sasuke’s worst fears.


	17. Colors and Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories are quite the tricky thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> This chapter was such a pain in the ass to get out! Sorry it took a while but there was such a strain to get my thoughts into words for this one and think it’s obvious. Maybe I’m overthinking it but I feel little coherency in this chapter, but I’ll let you guys decide and review. Otherwise, here’s another chapter that did have some fun parts (psst, like Naruto’s jealousy—whoops) so enjoy!  
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

Chapter Seventeen:

 

             With a quick look at the village map, the Team 7 trio made their way towards the cliff area where Jimmen apparently met the demonic girl. The entire walk was silent which was steadily becoming a theme for them. It suited Naruto fine since he placed his body on “auto-pilot” so he could do some thinking in his mental-scape. Kurama, who had long lost the restraints of chains and the cage, was splayed out with his head resting on his paws—well more like hands since Kurama did have fingers, strangely enough—and his tails swishing gently about. The rest of the scape was brightly illuminated by an off-whiteness that luckily never blinded either party, but aside from Kurama’s big form, it all remained empty.

            **“We have much to discuss,”** Kurama started lazily.

            _“Yeah, how ‘bout we start with what that was earlier?”_

            **“What are you talking about.”** Although it was a question, he had phrased it more like a statement.

            _“Really? Want me to list them? Fine, let’s start with you taking over my consciousness without my consent, then you actually block me out while talking with Sakura and Sasuke, and whatever you said must have pissed Sasuke off ‘cause he’s been mad ever since we left for the cliffs.”_

            **“It sounds like your precious Uchiha cannot handle some decent criticism which is all I supplied, nothing harmful.”**

            _“Oh God, what the hell did you say?!”_ Naruto growled.

            Kurama, being put off by Naruto’s tone, growled out a warning himself before using one of his tails to wrap around Naruto and drag him closer until his snout was but an inch from Naruto’s face. **“How he should tread carefully with how he treats you and that the next time he decides to threaten me, he’d be finding his eyeballs being shit out through his asshole.”**

            Naruto rolled his eyes. _“Look, I ain’t a princess who’s honor you gotta protect; it’s not like he’s tricking me or leading me on or anything.”_

            Kurama scoffed, blowing a tremendous bout of hot air into Naruto’s face. Naruto wasn’t sure if it was because of his mental-scape or if because Kurama wasn’t _really_ an animal (just a mass of chakra that took on the form of a fox) but Kurama’s breathe didn’t really smell of anything—nothing sour or putrid like an actual animal would. It just felt like a burst of steam and heat that paralleled to that of his fur. Not that he’d ever admit it out loud, but Naruto could cuddle into Kurama’s fur all day if given the choice, but he never wanted Kurama to grow arrogant with the knowledge.

            **“And of Uchiha’s threats?”**

            _“I’ll…talk to him, maybe get him to chill out but if he has to behave then so do you. I get the feeling that Teme wouldn’t have said anything unless you started it.”_

            And Naruto was certain his suspicions were correct when he felt Kurama try to nuzzle his large nose into his neck, almost purring and chuckling at the same time. That was the type of behavior he exhibited when Naruto was on the right track and Kurama, being the sly fox that he was, would try and distract him.

            _“Did you start it?”_

            **“How about I just promise to behave, hm?”** Kurama asked, completely ignoring Naruto’s question. Naruto should have used that as enough motivation to push Kurama away, to set this as an example that childish behaviors were not acceptable, but upon feeling one of his tails curl around him to envelop him in a blanket of warmth, Naruto gave in and just sighed. Fuck, he really _was_ a beta. **“Good, now for some serious talk.”**

            _“Right, about what Isobu said, I can’t make any sense of it.”_

            **“Which means I’ll have to sort through your memories then.”**

            _“Wait, why?”_

            **“You may not have recognized it during the moment, but when Isobu mentioned the information about the girl, it triggered a sense of familiarity. I think you have a memory stashed somewhere that’s related to what he might have been referring to.”**

            _“Why can’t I just go look into my own memories right now?”_

            **“You idiot, you should know damn well that any shinobi that enters their own memory bank risks permanent damage. But luckily for you, you have a special fiend that can do the work for you without any risk.”**

            _“So Ino-chan, then?”_ Naruto said teasingly. Kurama simply narrowed his eyes but said nothing in return. _“Alright, well how long is this gonna take?”_

            **“It is uncertain since there is no guarantee there is even a memory to begin with. What Isobu said may have sounded familiar but that could also suggest that an entire different memory was triggered.”**

_“Ugh, oh my god, I got a headache from whatever you just said.”_

            Kurama wanted to roll his eyes at Naruto’s dramatic whining. He tried thinking of a simpler way of explaining it to the idiot… **”Do you recall the first time you killed a squirrel in the forest and had to eat it? You thought it was disgusting and for one reason or another, actually compared it to eating vegetables.”**

            _“Yeah, well vegetables are gross, damn it.”_

            **“My point being that you never tasted squirrel before until that moment yet found a way to associate the taste to something familiar. Get it now?”**

            Naruto furrowed his brows, looking to think deeply on Kurama’s words. Sure enough, he smiled seconds later, happy that he understood the concept thanks to food once again. But then the realization hit. _“Shit.”_

            **“Yes, ‘shit’ indeed.”**

_“So what happens now?”_

            **“As I’ve said, I’ll be looking into your memories to see if anything comes up, but it will help if you followed your team to the cliff. If Isobu’s words alone triggered a potential memory, then perhaps actually visiting the site can push it forward and make it easier for me to assess.”**

            _“Okay, sounds like a plan. Good luck,”_ he wished. Kurama flicked the tip of one of his tails at Naruto’s chin in agreement.

            Finally the scape dissipated and Naruto regained present consciousness. Looking around, he could faintly hear the sound of water—they were nearing the cliff—and the light footsteps of both Sakura and Sasuke next to him. At first, Naruto thought nothing much had changed since neither Sakura or Sasuke were speaking, but he was proven mistaken when Sakura had spoken up.

            “You know, your birthday is coming up. Any plans?”

            “Same as last year,” Sasuke muttered grimly, apparently still sour over his conversation with Kurama.

            “What, crying with your therapist.” At the joke, Sasuke’s frown deepened and he sent a glare her way but she wasn’t fazed. Instead, she smiled, hoping to cheer him up in some way, even if that meant hurdling insults at her.

            “I did not cry.”

            “Sulked then?”

            “Sakura,” he warned with narrowed eyes.

            “Oh lighten up! Isn’t that exhausting, brooding all the time?”

            “Perhaps I need a new circle of friends.”

            Sakura scoffed. “If that’s meant to be insulting, Sasuke, then I hate to break it to you but you need to try better.”

            Again, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Sakura, but internally felt a smirk pull at his lips in reaction to her sass. “Naruto’s been rubbing off on you.”

            “Not like other people,” she replied before winking, leaving Sasuke—Uchiha-fucking-Sasuke—with a surprised expression. However, he hadn’t gotten more than a second to say anything before both parties felt a dreadful chill run down their spines. It was a mixture of murderous intent with dark, _dark_ green envy. They turned around and saw Naruto staring right at them, a blank expression, nothing to indicate either a positive or negative emotion, yet the neutrality spoke more volumes.

            “N-Naruto, you’re back.”

            “I left?” He questioned with a tone that reeked of sterility. Sakura wasn’t sure if this was natural or a forced tone.

            “You, uh, were gone for a bit so we figured you were talking to Kurama-sama.”

            “I was.”

            “Anything…interesting?”

            Naruto kept staring, not blinking, creeping both Sasuke and Sakura out, yet still, Sasuke remained silent. “He thinks visiting the cliff will help me remember something. He will be looking through my memories.”

            “Y-Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

            “That’s all he said?” Sasuke asked.

            There was a slight softening to Naruto’s eyes, but they remained frosty in their stare directed at Sasuke. “Yes,” he lied, not wanting to continue the conversation any further.

Naruto knew he was acting childish but the crawling under his skin reminded him why he felt justified in the first place. Granted, he had only heard the end half of their conversation but the context clues filled in enough blanks for him to figure out what they were talking about. And it hurt that his fears were confirmed. Thankfully, Kurama said nothing even though an unsaid ‘ _I told you so_ ’ was ringing in his ears.

            “Look, there it is,” Sakura said, trying her best to ignore the stifling air surrounding them. All three looked at the encased body of water, surrounded by red-colored cliffs and one large waterfall right at the center. Greenery only grew at the bottom, although vines stretched all across the rocks, and the water at the bottom was so clear, fish could be seen swimming back and forth.

            It was feint, but Naruto and Kurama could sense a trace of something foul lingering in the air. Despite the fluidity of the nature in front of them, there was a stillness that remained, like a scar within the paradise.

            “It’ll be better if we split the search—“

            “Yeah, I’ll check the water, you guys check the cliff,” Naruto interjected. Sasuke frowned at the interruption while Sakura looked unsure.

            “Wouldn’t it make more sense if you head to the cliffs since it might trigger a memory?” She questioned.

            She wasn’t wrong, but something about the water was calling to Naruto, as _wrong_ as it felt. Thus, he shook his head. “No, I’ll check the water first. I’ll catch up with you on the cliffs.”

            Again, Sakura looked hesitant to go along with the idea but with Sasuke minutely nodding—regardless of his disapproving face—she could only go along and see what would happen. She headed off towards the top of the cliff with Sasuke as Naruto coated the bottom if his shoes with chakra to walk atop the water surface. When he reached the center, he could hear nothing aside from the waterfall blasting but a few feet away, yet, like in the eye of the storm, there was a tranquility from where he stood.

            _“Why does this feel so off?”_

            **“I don’t know,”** replied Kurama. He was mentally roaming, trying to get a feel of what it was they were instinctually feeling, but it was too ominous to figure out. Instead, he pressed his palm against Naruto’s mind, pushing in enough chakra to break down the walls that segregated him and Naruto’s more personal memories. Naruto flinched, feeling a pinch and a wave of nausea hit him.

            **“Alive?”**

            _“Yeah, it feels weird, though. Like I’m naked.”_ It was an expected feeling since Kurama was about to see things that he had been emotionally shut off from since the sealing.

All he kept seeing was the Uchiha’s face, but not with the typical ‘romantic’ filter that Naruto usually thought him under. No, the memories were more fuzzy, grainy, as if Naruto’s eyes were covered by a sheer cloth. Dissatisfied with the results, Kurama gambled a little more chakra—ignoring the risk of an unwarranted transformation, or worse, causing damage somehow to Naruto’s psyche—to clear up the memories and chance a better view of them. And the desired outcome was the result; the memories were slowly clearing up, revealing more details of the Uchiha and the setting—

            _“Um…”_

            **“What is it?”**

            _“This isn’t right,”_ Naruto growled but the tone sounded more panicked than angry. Kurama looked to see what the fool had been blubbering about but nearly had to restrain himself from taking over Naruto’s body on instinct. Right before him was a waterfall, but instead of the red rocks, there were two statues posed with the traditional hand signs. Naruto’s breathing began shifting. _“This—It’s the Valley! What the hell is going on?”_

            It had to be Kurama fucking up the memories! **“Damn it!”** He was going to take over Naruto’s consciousness and get him away from the waters but when he tried, all he hit were walls. **“What the fuck!”**

            _“Something’s wrong, it’s like I’m stuck in a genjutsu_.” And then he was submerged. He was being pulled down into what could only be thought as pure darkness yet he didn’t feel as if he were drowning. Naruto did his best to kick back but further down he went. That was until he suddenly surrounded by other Narutos—except Naruto was sure he hadn’t summoned any clones. Even so, they grabbed his limbs and dragged him upward, back towards the surface from where he came. The speed of which everything occurred was blinding, too unfathomable to process.

            Despite not feeling any water in his lungs—surprisingly—Naruto still felt the icy pricks of the freezing water claiming his skin, clinging onto him as if it were angry to let him go. The clones held tight, however, pulling him closer towards the surface. In all the confusion, he hadn’t noticed that one by one, they planned a formation, lining up under him, looking no different than the linked plastic monkeys from the barrel game. It wasn’t until the last clone latched onto his ankles that Naruto realized he was being pushed up and broke the surface of the water, finally. He gasped for air he didn’t need and found himself choking on smoke from the surrounding fire… _fire?_

            It was quite the juxtaposition; he was soaking wet and cold enough to form icicles but was now being bathed in fire from somewhere for some reason. But it wasn’t as if Naruto had time to figure anything out because the clones decided it was time to swing him wildly through the air like a lasso whip. Gaining enough momentum, Naruto found himself being swung towards the edge of one of the cliffs and before he could think to stop it, he slammed into the rocks with a resounding crunch. Yet, it didn’t hurt. Nothing broke, nothing tore, well, at least for him. His clones on the other hand, they were consumed by the fire, popping and disappearing by twos and threes. Bleary and confused, Naruto tried to move and regain some sense of what just happened, but gravity became his new opponent and it immediately pushed him off the cliff to plunge back towards the water. Naruto feared he’d be back to square one with “drowning” in the water except when he landed, he only landed on the surface of the water—hard. That time, it did it hurt. Pain surged up and down his body in waves and it left him trembling.

            _Get up, get up, c’mon, get up! Get a move on! You’re gonna die if you don’t move, get up!_ Naruto shouted mentally to himself. He was begging his body to move, desperate to remove himself from whatever spell or curse he caught himself under. And thankfully, although slowly, his body responded, moving inch by inch to stand back up. The trembling worsened but Naruto trudged on and kept screaming at himself to move. From what felt like an eternity, Naruto finally found himself standing on two shaky legs, except, it then he found himself cast under a rather large shadow. Believing it another natural threat, Naruto braced himself and looked up to see what it could be but felt his eyes widen instead. There stood Sasuke…kind of. It _was_ him, but the old possessed version of him. The purple-haired and lipstick, grey skinned, fingers for wings version of him. The version Naruto hated the most. Sasuke stared at him but Naruto couldn’t read the expression even if the words were given to him.

            “Sasuke?” Naruto said thinly.

            “Naruto.” was the reply, voice cold and solid. Sasuke moved forward in two strides, causing Naruto to flinch and buckle; he fell to one knee and anxiously looked back up. “NARUTO!” He then screamed into his face.

 

_One heartbeat_

_Two heartbeats_

_Three heartbeats…_

 

            It was silent again except for the sound of a waterfall and Sakura’s hyperventilative sounds. His vision was murky, his hearing burdened by some invisible hindrance, his touch so confused that he could still feel the fire licking at his fingers and the water lapping at his ankles.

            “Naruto?” Sakura tried again, much softer this time.

            Naruto directed his head towards her voice and slowly felt himself coming to, his senses organizing themselves back to normalcy. _Finally_ , he could see Sakura’s glassy green eyes and Sasuke’s gloomy pale face frowning too much for his liking. Coming back to the present, however, seemed to take a toll on his body and he felt himself falling downward into the water, but Sasuke caught him before he could take yet another plunge. Except what Sasuke couldn’t prevent was Naruto getting a glimpse of his reflection from the water and he couldn’t help but notice the red eyes and fangs overtaking his human features.

            He groaned. “What happened?” He said groggily, feeling no energy in his words.

            “You were caught in a genjutsu, you fucking idiot,” Sakura scolded. “We don’t know what happened but it took a while to release you and then, you know, your fox side came out.”

            “We should probably move away from the water,” Sasuke suggested.

            And in a whoosh, Naruto felt himself being moved back to the ground, being gently placed on his back. The sky was blue with few clouds crawling about, unlike the grey in his memory(?), and for one relieving second, Naruto thought of that one moment he spent with Shikamaru cloud watching; eventually, it became boring since he wasn’t one to sit still for too long, but for the hour he did it, he enjoyed it. Now he could see why Shiamru could do this forever. Exhaustion was beginning to take over but Sakura and Sasuke had other plans.

            “Don’t you dare sleep on us, we have to figure out what happened,” Sakura demanded angrily.

            “Gen…jutsu,” he muttered with closing eyes.

            “Naruto we know that already but—“

            The rest was cut off when Naruto finally blacked out, only of course once he felt Kurama mentally relaxing now that the danger was overcome and no barriers existed between them. He heard him chuckle and quietly warned him that Sakura was going to kill him when he woke up. “ _Heal me, then.”_ He whispered it so softly that he was sure he didn’t say it.

            **“Idiot,”** he said in amusement, silently implying that he’d do it anyway without having to be asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is confused, the genjutsu was a replica of the Valley of the End fight but specifically when the Naruto clones shot out of the water and then grabbed Sasuke by the ankles only to swing him like a ragdoll and slam him against the cliffs. For this chapter though, instead of Sasuke, it’s Naruto being grabbed.  
> Hope that helps!


	18. The Hefty Painting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurama is seriously on his game guys!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohayo Folks!  
> Hey guys, missed you all so much! Here’s a shorty one for ya, hope you like it. On a side note, good news: I created a page on FB for me to make posts and keep communication for you folks. It’s called EggsandBaconFics by CrimsonNi—there isn’t much on it yet except a couple posts from me but you guys can also post some pictures and comments if you want. Let me know what you guys think about the chap or the page. See ya next chapter!  
> Anyway, please enjoy the story and if you enjoy this, perhaps you'll enjoy my other story Always a Sin. Thanks so much for reading, and please review!  
> Eggs and Bacon,  
> CrimsonNi

**Chapter** **Eighteen:**

Finally coming to from his near-death genjutsu fail actually proved easier than he assumed. He didn't feel any physical hindrance and his head was nice and light. Taking a deep breath, he felt his lungs expand calmly followed by some wiggling of his fingers and toes. The opening of his eyes came last. It surprisingly took little effort, yet still, he took his time opening his eyes, wary of any brightness that may suddenly blind him. Luckily though, there was none. Instead, Naruto found himself under a tree with tremendous amount of shade under it and just as he went to sit himself up, a bout of breeze blew by to shake the leaves. The tree head danced back and forth above him, leaving behind the sound of rain. And when the sound settled, Naruto tuned in to his surroundings and could hear a waterfall nearby but there were no signs of either Sakura or Sasuke. _…what's going on?_

"You passed out after that interesting experience. The girl deemed you livable and both her and the Uchiha moved you here so they could continue to investigate the site."

Laying next to him was a fairly large and red fox with one tail curled around its back. It was in a relaxed pose; its head posed on its two paws and the rest of its body stretched out, basking under the shade of the tree.

"Kurama?!"

The fox didn't pick up its head but one of its ears flickered upon hearing its name. It went as far as pulling its lips to display its best representation of a smirk. "The one and only."

"B-But…how?!"

"Relax or you'll pull a muscle. I used your body to create a clone and then transferred myself into it so that I could watch over your lifeless body."

"You've never done that before," Naruto exclaimed, still feeling shocked—he didn't even know Kurama could do that!

"No and neither did I."

"But you can still read my mind. How does that even work?"

"You do know I was practically born from a deity, correct? Do not question my limitless capabilities."

"You didn't even know you could do it!"

"That was not me questioning myself but realizing it was yet something else I could do. I just assume I can do anything."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Could you be anymore conceited? If you can do anything than why can't we figure out what's going on or who's pulling the strings."

"I didn't say I _could_ do anything, just that I assume I can until I can confirm or deny otherwise. Moving on, I think I figured out what went wrong."

"Being what?"

"We were on the right track but the problem was that the location resembled too closely to the battle at the Valley. Instead of the desired memory being triggered—"

"We get the Valley," Naruto concluded. "But what about the genjutsu?"

"A red herring set up by the perpetrator."

"Doesn't a red herring mean this person _wants_ us to find them? Wouldn't it make more sense to set a trap?"

"It's a trap either way, because the end result is your—our—death either way. The question is does this person or group want to kill you quickly or do they want to go through the trouble of capturing you first and then killing you?"

"Well they left that genjutsu and that could have killed me."

Kurama growled, suddenly whipping his tail violently as he dug his claws deep into the dirt. "You insult me. In what world would such a weak assault have succeeded? Whoever "they" are knew you would not have died because I was there."

"But—"

"Have you not noticed the pattern yet? Those that were attacked were ambushed through means of consumption and poison, so why would they suddenly want to _drown_ you? Or kill you through a genjutsu? It's a trick, they are messing with you, playing mind games."

"Why single me out though? Why leave a trail of bread crumbs here without any intention to actually kill me?"

"Well, that's what we should go and find out."

Naruto agreed and decided to haul himself up with a grunt. The little Kurama-fox decided to remain and followed him as he walked back towards the waterfall. In just a short amount of minutes, Naruto found the waterfall again, the same red rocks and greenery, but still saw no sign of his teammates. Deciding it was faster to check for their chakra versus actually going around to look for them, Naruto gently pushed a pulse of chakra and immediately found the both of them back on top of the cliff. As Naruto climbed up the side of the cliff, Kurama took the opportunity to leap up onto Naruto's shoulder and settle there similarly to a cat. Naruto wanted to comment on it but honestly could care less and figured the old fox would owe him in some fashion. The feel of Sasuke and Sakura's chakra was growing stronger, signaling that he was getting closer to the top of the cliff, which was notably hard to discern. Finally, Naruto pulled himself up and was suddenly distracted by the beautiful view of nature—Kurama nipped at his ear to bring his focus back.

"Sakura-chan?" He called.

Before him was nothing but solid and clear rock that lead straight to the edge of the cliff where the waterfall met the bottom. Standing close to said edge were his teammates looking downwards at something, based off of their peculiar expressions. Hearing her name, however, caused Sakura to look up and brighten a bit at seeing the recovery of her friend. It was cut short though when—what appeared to be—nostalgia kicked in and she scowled in anger. Right, Naruto remembered that Sakura threatened him before passing out.

"You're gonna heal me, right?"

"I'm still debating."

"Kurama!"

"Naruto, you asshole! I'm going to kill you!"

"W-Wait, Sakura-chan, I just recovered!"

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?! You know you're not fighting this battle alone, right? Don't' scare us like that again!" She scolded. She held an expression of concern and anger, melded together harmoniously to make Naruto feel all the more guilty for how he treated her earlier.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan, I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again." He moved closer to better investigate what the two of them had been previously looking at, however, he kept his focus on Sakura.

She scoffed. "You better or I really will kill you, but speaking of which, what _did_ happen?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but Kurama covered his mouth with his tail and spoke up instead. "Someone left a genjutsu behind and it interfered with my memory digging."

"Then perhaps it has something to do with this," said Sasuke, gesturing towards a spot on the ground.

Both Naruto and Kurama looked at where Sasuke pointed to and saw a drawing or painting of sorts. It was rather large and depicted an equally large, dark red fox with white globes for eyes and white triangles for teeth. The fox clearly was referring to Kurama because nine spikes were poking out from the back but what was most disturbing was the yellow stick figure poking out from between the white triangles.

"Is that you eating me?"

"Or a distant relative eating your father—that drawing is much too hefty to be me."

"Yes, because _clearly_ there's more than one of you running around without anyone knowing or noticing."

"There was during the war, if you recall."

"Guys…can we focus?" Sakura said exasperatedly.

Naruto looked sheepish while Kurama rolled his eyes. For a moment, everyone remained quiet until Sasuke caught Naruto's attention. "Didn't you say before that Isobu-san mentioned something about a painting? Could he have referred to this?"

His eyes widened because, yeah, he did remember that and a creepy chill raced down Naruto's spine. "Yeah and he said something about a genjutsu too!"

"But also about a girl, right? And clouds? Wonder how they fit into this," Sakura interjected."

Kurama, without warning, hopped off of Naruto's shoulder and approached the painting with no apprehension. He sniffed at it first before quickly swiping a paw over the painting, smearing it and causing the red, white, and yellow to blend.

"This couldn't have been the painting that Isobu saw—this is too fresh. Which means the person we're looking for came back here knowing we'd find this and set up the genjutsu."

"Maybe we can ask around and see if anyone's noticed someone suspicious, particularly a young female, lurking around here," Sakura added.

"I doubt they'll be of much help; they're probably hoping it was a foreigner who did this."

"Uchiha is correct but it wouldn't hurt to try. If anything, if they see how invested you are in capturing the culprit, it'll give them the option to either help or resist."

Sakura looked skeptical. "We're not trying to step on anyone's toes."

In reply, Kurama gave a toothy smirk. "Has the lack of war mellowed you all out? Show your respect to the right authorities if you must, but keep in mind that a fellow brother has been killed and whether now or last, he's after this blonde idiot as well."

Unlike Sakura, Sasuke wasn't surprised by the old fox's words, but he was motivated by them, not that he'd ever admit that. The fox was right and Naruto's safety was top priority, even if that meant eliciting another world-ending war. "Then what's our next move?"

No one spoke, but instead, looked to Kurama. "What? I am not your captain."

"I thought you were on a roll. No ideas?" Naruto asked.

Kurama huffed, amused but also annoyed. "From what has been gathered so far, it seems the key ingredient is this missing bitch. I suggest Sakura-san does the asking since she is the kindest and most diplomatic. Uchiha should try and use his abilities to scope around and see if there are any suspicious individuals connected to this painting or any other of the happenings."

"And us?"

"We should go somewhere safe but secluded. I need to finish sifting through your memories without interruption and this painting has actually helped out a lot."

"You found something?!" Sakura and Naruto asked together.

"Nothing definitive yet but something popped up."

"Great, then let's get going before the sun sets and we waste anymore time," Sasuke said, reluctantly agreeing with the fox. All parties nodded and turned back the opposite direction to climb down the cliff.

**~*ELSEWHERE*~**

She stood before a full length mirror with a completely exposed bodice. Although others have admired it before, all she could see where ill flaws; discoloration, paleness, bruising, stark veins, brown and wrinkly nipples, loose skin, and just general ugliness. However, she knew it would all be gone soon. Watching her every move in the mirror, she slowly grabbed a fine brush, placed on a table next to her, and dipped it in a cup of paint—the color was black. With deliberate movements, she swiveled the paint on her skin, a messy display of swirls and circles before placing the brush back on the table.

In a language unheard of, she whispered an incantation, softly, sensually, and tapped her belly twice. Chakra blazed with a bright blue, engulfing the black paint, before forcing it to move into specific characters that spelled _Killer B_.

"You've dodged me again, Uzumaki. Until next time, but for now, I am off to Kumogakure."


End file.
